Continuing Eleven
by Artgal
Summary: Steph works alongside Ranger, Ranger's brother, an assassin, Morelli, Terry Gilman, and all the MerryMen as they work together to stop Trenton's deadliest brothers. And if that isn't enough, Steph catches the attention of a mystery killer.
1. Chapter 1

Continuing Eleven

PROLOGUE

" _I feel better now," I said to Ranger. _

"_Babe." _

I smiled weakly. "Morelli's gonna be pissed."

Ranger strolled over and slung an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close to him. "Come on Babe."

He led me over to his black Bronco, the vehicle of choice today, and helped me up into the passenger seat. Then he angled into the driver's seat and took off down the road. I leaned my head back and rested it on the cool leather. I was happy things were finally over with reincarnated bad guys. It wasn't fun to have people you thought were dead chasing after you. Ranger grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Ranger must be exhausted. He spent six hours looking for me and he planned on taking out Stiva. "I'm fine Babe," he said, using his nifty ESP.

We were halfway to Morelli's place when he passed us on the road. Tires squealed and horns honked as he made a huge U-turn in the middle of the street.

"Babe," Ranger said, cutting his eyes to me.

I waved him off. "Just go to his house. We'll talk there."

There was no way I was pulling over to switch cars. Unh-uh. Just because the boys had this power struggle going on doesn't mean I was going to get in the middle of it. Unh-uh. Ranger pulled up into Morelli's driveway and I jumped out.

I saw Joe and Ranger exchange glances and Ranger inclined his head.

"Where did you go?" Morelli asked me as soon as he reached me. "I thought someone kidnapped you!" Then he pulled me tight against him and held me there, stroking my hair softly. What a sweetie.

Ranger made to get back in the car, but I caught his arm.

"I want to go to RangeMan and collect the files on Stiva for the PD. Can you take me?"

Ranger locked eyes with me and gave an imperceptible nod.

"We can all talk inside, I want a shower," I said and headed off toward to house. I wasn't going to worry about a shoot-out between them right now. I really needed a shower. And food. I **_always_** needed food.

Once inside, I put my jacket and keys on the counter.

"Walk with me," I said to them and headed up the stairs. I glanced back at Ranger and he looked amused. We all trudged up the stairs and the boys dutifully followed me into the bedroom. All the stuff I had brought to Morelli's was neatly stacked in a corner of the bedroom in suitcases. I opened the largest suitcase and extracted my RangeMan outfit.

"Joe, I went and rammed Big Blue into Stiva."

Joe went from calm to angry Italian in five seconds flat.

"Jesus Steph, can't you listen for once? You were told to stay here!"

He ran a hand through his hair. "You could have been hurt!"

"Do I ever listen when people tell me to do something?" I snapped at Joe, pushing past him to collect all the hair essentials.

Morelli sighed. "No."

"I'm going to take a shower." I locked eyes with Ranger. "I shouldn't be too long. Will you wait?"

Again with the nod, which Joe didn't pick up on and looked confused when I turned and walked into the bathroom.

"Cupcake?" I turned to him.

"I'm glad your okay. Please don't do that again."

I nodded. "I'll try. And I'm sorry about work, but I really have to go in."

He nodded. Then I leaned forward and gave him a long, slow kiss, then slammed the door.

I came downstairs a half and hour later fresh from a shower. I had done my hair half-assed and didn't bother with make-up. What was the point? I was just going to get into another Bombshell situation. As I reached the bottom of the stairs and moved toward the kitchen, I noticed Joe and Ranger were glaring at each other.

"Stop it," I said sharply.

Ranger pulled back. I moved to the kitchen in search of food. I saw bread on the counter and grabbed it, then burrowed through the cabinets for peanut butter. I finally found some in the far reaches of the cupboard and spread it on the bread. I looked up to find Ranger giving me the full-on smile. What was that for?

"What?" I asked, my mouth full of sandwich.

He shook his head. "Nothing Babe."

"Don't 'nothing' me Ranger."

Joe leaned against the counter smirking, clearly enjoying me being snippy with Ranger. Ranger's eyes flew to Joe and hardened, then flew back to me and looked amused.

"I just wondered where my shower gel went. I guess I know now."

I shoved half the sandwich in my mouth so I couldn't talk and turned bright red. Joe's smirk was quickly replaced by a scowl.

"MMmsbsuysaghweuisdaue," I mumbled.

Ranger coughed to cover up a laugh and Joe glared at him. I swallowed quickly and downed a glass of water to get rid of the peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth.

"Cupcake," Joe said.

I turned and smiled sweetly at him. "Hmmm?"

He looked at me and let out a sigh. "Tell me later, I'm sure it's some story."

"Unh-huh. Some story," I said and bolted for the door. Unfortunately he caught me by the arm, spun me around, and kissed me… hard. One of those 'shove you up against the wall and fuck you' leading kisses. It was damn good.

"Love you, Cupcake," he said. Oh no! What do I say now?

"I, ummm, bye Joe," and I took off.

I noticed Ranger's eyebrows were raised when he got into the truck with me.

"What!" I yelled, throwing my hands up in the air. I'm sooo not Italian.

"In a minute," Ranger said and pulled the truck out.

In a minute? What kind of answer is that? It isn't, that's what kind.

We drove in the usual silence until we reached RangeMan. Ranger pulled into his normal parking space and turned to look over at me.

"I'm waiting," I said impatiently.

That's when Ranger reached over and hauled me into his lap, kissing the living daylights out of me. Not in the same way as Joe, but more of an 'I need this right now' kiss. Not one leading to a wall. When his tongue entered my mouth, I think I lost consciousness. It only returned when I heard the truck horn blare loud and strong.

"Holy hell," I said, flying towards Ranger's chest.

Ranger was chuckling. "Great, the guys'll get a kick out of this."

I rolled my eyes.

"Saw that Babe." I did it again and he laughed.

We got out of the truck and took the elevator to the fifth floor. As soon as the doors opened, we were bombarded by applause and whistles. Every RangeMan employee in the control room was on their feet in a standing ovation. Smartasses.

I felt myself blush. Who knew the RangeMen have a sense of humor?

"Stop it guys," I whined. Ranger chuckled next to me then took off to his office.

"Come on Bombshell," Tank said, slinging an arm around my shoulder and directing me back to my desk. He plopped me down and eyed my overflowing in-tray with a shudder. Tank didn't do desk work, that much I knew.

"Have fun with that," he said and was gone. Not long after, I found Lester standing next to me.

"So Beautiful, the guys and I are going out tonight. You wanna come?"

I was being invited out with the guys?!? Cool man!

"Sure Les, who's coming?"

"Me, Tank, Bobby, and Hal."

"Thanks for the invite."

"Anytime Sexy, we'll pick you up at Morelli's at eight."

Sexy? Lester just called me sexy! Excuse me whilst I swoon.

I nodded and he left.

I came into work to get the files on Stiva together, which only took about an hour. I could give them to Morelli later. Once I finished that, I dug into the mound of files. I had significantly reduced the stack when six arrived. I gathered my keys, purse, and gun and took the elevator to the garage when it finally hit me that I didn't have a car. Uh! Mental head slap!

Rummaging in my purse, I pulled out my cell phone and speed dialed Joe.

"Cupcake," he said, answering.

"Hi Joe. I, ummm, can I get a ride to your place?" I asked.

"Sure thing, be there in a flash."

And he disconnected. That wasn't too nice now was it?

I was getting impatient when his truck finally pulled up in front of RangeMan. About time!

"Hey Cupcake," Joe said when I slide in. I leaned over and kissed him… a lot. Okay, so this was me making up for the car thing with Ranger. So what? The man could kiss!

"I think I might have to break a few laws to get us home," he said when I finally pulled back. I noticed the windows were partially fogged over. Whoops, got a little carried away there.

I glanced at the clock. "Sorry Joe, but I'm going out with the team tonight at eight."

He looked at me. "The team?"

"The RangeMan team. I think they're taking me out to make me feel better about today."

"Is Ranger going to be there?" he asked with his blank cop face on.

"No. But it shouldn't matter either way."

Joe shook his head. "I guess I'll have to eat Pino's alone," he chided.

"Sorry Joe," I said. Then I flashed him a mischievous grin.

"But I'll make it up to you later."

Morelli sent me his wolf grin. "Deal."

Continuing Eleven

Chapter 1

I awoke with a pounding headache and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. Great. But at least I was comfortable. Wait, huh?!? I pried my eyes open and quickly shut them again. Damn the light. Slowly, I tried again. Ahhh, better. I looked around and realized I was in a bedroom. More specifically, on a bed. A very large, comfortable bed with nice sheets. There was only one window, a large one to the left, and the room was furnished in a tasteful contemporary modern mix. I pushed the covers off and got up to stretch. God I was sore. I need to get out more. I should exercise. Puh! Who was I kidding?

I looked down to find myself wearing a big black T-shirt, which looked awfully familiar. I smelled it and found it wasn't Ranger's, but it was familiar. Okay, this was edging on creepy now. I walked out of the bedroom to find myself in a medium-sized apartment with a very familiar layout. Okay, not good. I went to the kitchen in search of food and found a pile of my clothes and a note on the counter.

Morning Sexy,

Rough night. Sleep in, eat my food, use my shower,

get dressed and come to work. There's Advil in the

bathroom cabinet for your head.

Les

I think my knees gave away. Shit, there was that word 'sexy' again. I have a boyfriend! Other men should NOT be calling me sexy. Yikes! O shit, did I sleep with Lester? Shit, shit, shit. Okay Steph, don't hyperventilate. In… out… in… now go take a shower and get dressed like the man said.

I showered and changed into my RangeMan uniform, doing the best I could with my hair without all the essentials. Then I grabbed a Coke and powered donuts for breakfast. Lester Santos is a man after my own heart. I really needed to make sure nothing happened. Like NOW. I grabbed my purse and walked to the elevator. I hit the button and it opened to Ranger and Tank deep in conversation. Tank caught the sight of me out of the corner of his eye and started laughing. Ranger just stared… he seemed shocked to see me standing there. Guys all the boys sleep on this floor. Wow, what a situation.

"How's the head Bombshell?" boomed Tank.

"Not so loud," I whined. He just laughed more. The bastard.

"Where were you, Babe?" Ranger asked. Yikes! Panic! Flee! Danger! Danger!

"Ummmm…" He fixed me with a stare and I caved.

"I think Lester's. At least that's who signed the note."

Tank's grin widened when he saw Ranger's jaw clench. Smug, smug man. I have NO FREAKIN' idea why he thought that was funny. I thought it was a wee bit scary.

"Why did you spend the night at Lester's?"

I looked to Tank for help.

"We all went out last night," Tank supplied. "Bombshell got a bit drunk." A bit? O please.

Ranger raised his eyebrow at Tank and I leaned my head against the wall for support. O last night… the events are a little, okay okay A LOT, blurry.

"_Yo Beautiful," Lester said right to Joe's face. Les got a kick out of this, but Joe didn't. _

"_One minute Les!" I yelled from the living room. Joe opened the door a little more, his version of an invitation in. Les, Tank, Bobby, and Hal all strolled in looking straight off the cover of GQ. _

"_Bombshell's taking on a whole other meaning tonight for you, Beautiful," Lester said when he saw me. Joe scowled, but I couldn't help but smile. Nothing like gorgeous ex-army men telling you that you look hot to raise your spirits. _

"_Daaaamn Bombshell," Tank said on a whistle. I blushed. _

"_Wow Steph." That was Bobby. _

"_Ergh." Hal. Poor guy still hadn't gotten over me pulling a fast one on him with that stun gun. _

"_So where are we going guys?" _

"_Shorty's Steph." _

_Morelli cut in. "I don't think that place is safe for her so late."_

_The boys looked at him like he was dumber than a rock. Hell, they looked like they thought rocks were smarter. My only response was to roll my eyes. _

"_Okay fine," Morelli said, throwing his hands in the air. "I'll see you later." _

_I gave him a peck on the lips and flounced out with the boys. _

Ding! The elevator doors opened and my head was clanging with the noise.

"Does anyone know where Lester is?" I asked Tank and Ranger.

Ranger's blank face went down. "He's on a job."

"Oh, well I'll be at my desk." Guess I was going to have to wait until later to ask him about last night.

"Babe, wait."

"Huh?" Nice answer Steph.

"Meeting at two. We have a new client. I want you on the case."

I nodded. "Gottcha Ranger." I resisted the temptation to salute.

He smiled. "You're actually listening to me?"

Huh? What? Confused!

My confusion must've shown.

"About being a smartass Babe." Oh right.

"Don't get used to it. I'm considering this a special case." This earned me a flash of his pearly whites.

"I'm a special case, Babe? I think you're flirting again."

"No, you just have the power to fire me. Don't expect this past six or before eight."

Again, the smile. "And Babe, Morelli's come by about three times now looking for you. Call him. Tell him to stay away from the building unless it's official. Employees and clients only."

I thunked myself on the head.

"Shit, I didn't go home last night."

Ranger was smiling again. Damn the man.

"Oh fuck," I said with one last thunk.

"Babe, be careful, we don't need any more screws loose."

"Aren't you just a bundle of giggles?" I asked sarcastically.

I was in deep shit with Morelli. So I rocketed off to my desk, where I found a big 8x10 glossy of me dancing on the bar. The boys thought me getting drunk was funny. O yeah, laugh it up! I sighed and let my head fall onto the keyboard.

_I grimaced as the smooth amber liquid scorched down my throat. The boys roared. I was definitely nearing drunk. "Freak-a-Leak" came on and I pulled Lester out onto the dancefloor. Out of all the MerryMen, Lester was the best dancer. When the song was over, we moved back to our table where a bottle of Jose Cuervo and five shot glasses were waiting for us. _

"_Alright Steph, ask a question, take a shot. All questions are game," said Bobby. _

"_You first Bomber," said Hal. _

_Les poured the drink for me as I contemplated my question. Better to start easy. "Are any of you married?" _

_Hal raised his hand. "Just me. Two years, my wife Aly is pregnant with our first." And he got a huge goofy grin on his face. Awwww, I licked the salt off the rim, downed the shot, and ate a lime. _

_Bobby went next. "Why'd you become a Bounty Hunter Steph?"_

_I sighed. "Money. I got laid off and was broke. I bribed Vinnie into it."_

_Bobby drank his shot. Next up was Tank._

"_What did you used to do?"_

"_Lingerie buyer." _

_That really got the boys going. _

_Next up Lester. "Why do you stay with Morelli?"_

_I thought about it. "Because he's safe." _

_Lester nodded. "Fair enough. Bottom's up!" And he downed the shot._

_Hal was up. "What the hell is up with you and the Boss?"_

"_Good question. You should probably ask him cuz I have no fuckin idea." O yeah, I was drunk._

_Hal shrugged and took the shot. Six shots later I was dancing on the bar. Eight shots later, Lester was taking a body shot off me. Ten shots later I was dancing on the dance floor with Lester, Tank, Bobby, and Hal all at the same time. And that's where my mind goes blank. _

I reluctantly picked up the phone and dialed Morelli.

"Talk." Well that was a bad sign.

"Hi." Gee Steph, aren't you witty?

"Stephanie."

"Joe, I'm sorry about last night. I think I blacked out so I stayed in a , um, spare room."

Joe sighed heavily on the other end. "Your head hurt?"

"Like a bitch."

"Good!"

"So I had fun! Sue me!"

"Steph calm down! Stop yelling at me, I'm not the one who went out and got drunk last night!"

"O please Joe."

"And what's with me not being able to come see you at work."

"Company rules, no one comes in unless they are clients or employees."

"So you were never there until you were officially employed by RangeMan?"

Damn technicality.

"Well, erm, you could say I was a client." Or an illegal trespasser, but I didn't feel the need to mention that.

"Bullshit Steph!"

"You know what? I had fun last night. I told you where I was going and who I was going with. I didn't have to do that, but I did. You can forget that courtesy in the future if this is how you are going to act!"

I was standing up in my cubby now, yelling my full head off at the phone. I bet a looked really strange.

"Steph, Jesus, come on."

"What, are you planning on hiring someone to follow me around?"

"Why is it that Ranger always comes between us?"

"Ranger? You're making this about Ranger? HE. WASN'T. EVEN. THERE. Is that clear enough for you?"

"Babe," came Ranger's voice from the entrance to my cubicle. He came up behind me so we were touching ever-so gently.

I took a deep calming breath and started to talk again.

"I'm sorry I upset you, Joe, but I will not be telling you every moment of my life."

"Cupcake…" Cupcake, okay that was better.

"Cupcake I was worried about you. But we have to share our lives otherwise this won't work."

My voice went cold. "You share about Gilman and we'll talk."

"You know I can't. And you share about Ranger and we'll talk!" he screamed into the phone.

"Fuck you!"

"Yeah, well fuck you back."

"Damn you Morelli," I yelled and slammed the phone down. Wow, that was intense.

I looked over to find everyone staring at me. I would've yelled but I didn't have any more yell left in me.

Letting my body fall back, I leaned into Ranger.

"And you say your life doesn't lend itself to relationships," I said, rolling my eyes.

I felt him smile into my hair.

"Come on Babe, we've got a meeting."

Ranger led me down the hallway to a large conference room. We went inside and I took a seat in one of the numerous black leather chairs seated around a nicely polished oak table.

"This is probably a bad time to mention who we're dealing with," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"How could it get worse." Ranger grimaced a little and slid a file over to me.

I opened it, read the first page, and had to stop myself from bounding over the table and strangling him. After all, it wasn't his fault.

"Glad you realize that Babe," he smirked. Damn, must've said that out loud.

He came around the table. Turning the chair to face him, he crouched down and looked into my eyes while tucking a stray curl behind my ear.

"I really need your help on this one Babe."

"Terry Gilman? Why?"

He shrugged. "She's on vice. I could always ask for Morelli as a liaison."

I smacked him on the arm. "That'd go over well. So he's on this case too?"

Ranger nodded. Ugh!

"Why do you need me?"

He threw a picture down in front of me.

"We need you to go undercover to pick up some Intel on this guy. It's all pre-arranged through RangeMan and approved by the PD."

I nodded. "Joe won't be happy."

"Babe, you can always say no. You know that."

I shook my head. "No, I trust you. Besides, it's my job. He'll just have to get over it."

"Proud of you, Babe," he said and flashed me a smile.

**Continuing Eleven**

**Chapter 2**

"Can you give me a ride to Vinnie's?" I asked sweetly as we were pushing out the door and back into the hallway.

"Let's go Babe," he said and pushed me into the elevator and headed for the garage.

The ride to the office was silent as usual, Ranger being in his zone and all. I almost rolled my eyes.

Except we went right past the office. I wondered if Ranger was so far into his zone that he didn't realize where he was going.

"Umm, Ranger?"

"I know Babe," he said and made a right into the drive-thru of McDonalds. I smiled.

"Have a mentioned I have a pounding headache?"

Ranger chuckled. "Yes." He ordered a large coke and fries and paid for me.

"Thanks!" I squealed and ate a fry. I think I moaned it tasted so good. In fact, I'm pretty sure I did because when I opened my eyes, Ranger was staring at me, his eyes dark. Yikes! I was staring right back at him and suddenly the headache didn't matter. Thoughts of Ranger pulling me onto his lap filled my mind. I think his ESP was on high alert because he put the bag on the ground and pulled me to him, kissing me hard. I threw my arms around his neck and began running my fingers through his hair. And that's when the car behind us laid on the horn. What is it with us kissing and car horns?

Ranger moved back over into his seat chuckling.

"There's always something," I said softly.

Ranger pulled out of the parking lot and we were in front of Vinnie's in a matter of minutes.

He turned off the engine and looked at me.

"Babe, what exactly happened last night?"

I sighed. "I got really really drunk. I don't remember anything after the last ten shots."

"Ten?" Ranger looked really amused now. Hmmm…

"The guys have pictures," I groaned. "They think me drunk is pretty damn funny."

Ranger was laughing as he got out and opened my door for me. The he held open the door to Vinnie's so I didn't have to break my rhythm of fry-coke, fry-coke. We got into the office and he turned to me and started laughing again. What the hell?

"Uh, what's up?" I asked.

He shook his head and went back out to the truck.

I turned to Connie and Lula and they shrugged. "I didn't know he could laugh," Connie said.

"Damn white girl, you got wasted last night huh?" Lula said.

I just sighed and ate more while I waited for Mr. Giggles to come back.

Ranger came back in a minute later carrying a folder.

"Take a look."

I opened the folder and there were several shots from last night, like the one on my desk.

"They gave these to you?"

Ranger nodded and tried to hold back another laugh.

"Babe, two glasses of wine and you're gone." I threw the folder back at him and he ducked while still laughing.

"Wish I could have been there."

I thought about that. "Why weren't you there?"

He shrugged. "I don't go out much with the guys anymore. Basically they get drunk and pick up women. I didn't know you were going with them."

Wow, Ranger didn't go pick up women on a regular basis? Why does that surprise me? Well duh, because he's gorgeous.

"Connie, do you have anything for me?"

She rifled around in all the piles on her desk.

"Steph, I've got one for you. Ranger, here's three and Vinnie needs to talk to you."

I attempted to raise an eyebrow. "Three Ranger? Trying to take all my money?"

Ranger chuckled. "I'll be right back Babe," he said and pushed into Vinnie's inner sanctum.

As soon as the door closed, the girls were all over me with questions. Surprise surprise.

"Okay white girl, what happened to you last night?"

I sighed and shoved another fry in my mouth.

"I went out with a few of Ranger's men and, obviously, got drunk."

"There's more to that story," Connie said eyeing me.

"I woke up in Lester's bed."

"Lester?" they asked at the same time.

"One of Ranger's guys. I'd say third in command at RangeMan."

"Who's second? That hunk of love Tank?" asked Lula.

"Yup. The Big Guy."

"Okay back to the point Steph, what happened?" Connie squealed.

"I hope and think nothing, but I woke up in his shirt."

"Shiiit girl!" Lula exclaimed. Tell me about it.

"Morelli and I got into a fight today at RangeMan, well, over the phone."

"About this?"

"Yup. He blamed Ranger like he always does. And I'm sure if I hadn't hung up on him my job would've come up eventually."

"Why'd he blame Ranger. It sounded like he wasn't even there."

I leaned back in the chair I had sat down in. "That's the thing, he wasn't. He didn't even know we were going out. But you know Joe, he tends to fly off the handle. He's Italian."

Lula spoke up. "Maybe you should dump Officer Hottie and get with Batman?"

"Batman and I won't work. Drop it," I said, rather snippy I might add.

Connie's eyes flashed to me. "Looks like she hit a nerve."

"Nope, no nerve." DENIAL! It was my happy place.

"Then why are you all crabby about it?"

"Because Ranger and I work together. We aren't anything more." God I was SO full of shit.

"O please Steph. We see the way he looks at you and you know what? I think you return that look," Connie said.

"Yeah girl! You and Morelli have been side-steppin' down the same road since you were sixteen." Well actually six, but that made me sound bad.

"And look where it's gotten you," Connie said. "You always fight. It isn't just because you are Italian. You do care about each other, I just don't think you love each other the way you should for the type of relationship you're going for."

"What and you think Ranger does?" I said incredulously. "Trust me, he doesn't."

"How do you know?" Connie said.

"I just do, now will you please drop it?"

"We're just trying to be your friends. You worrin' about Morelli all the time makes us worried."

"Lester asked me why I stay with Morelli too."

"And what did you say?"

I took a deep breath. "Because he's safe."

Connie locked eyes with me. "When have you ever wanted safe Steph? When have you done what you were told when you felt differently? Just because it's safe doesn't make it right."

And for once I realized she was right. I was content to be with Morelli because I was afraid of anything unconventional. Problem is, I've never wanted conventional, so I'd never be happy with it. Now I had to figure out what to do. All this just made my head hurt worse.

"Shit!" Connie yelled, holding a small piece of black plastic.

"What?" Lula and I yelled at the same time. I thought it was a bomb, that shows you how sad my life is.

"Vinnie bugged the office again!"

I paled. I swear all the blood left my face. I was sitting in here talking about Ranger and he was right in there listening to all of it. Shit shit shit and a mental head slap.

The girls must've picked up on the awkwardness because they actually shut up. I sat in silence shoving fries and sipping Coke while contemplating what to say to Ranger. I didn't have long because Ranger came out a moment later, file in hand.

I stuck the straw in my mouth and sipped my coke.

"Babe."

"Ranger?" I said sweetly.

He shook his head and handed me the file.

"Put this with the other folders on your desk. I want a RangeMan search done for all of these. Advanced search actually. I don't want to miss a thing. This relates to the new case."

I perused the file a bit. It was seriously loaded. Gun-running, attempted murder, drugs. You name it, this guy had done it.

"What does Vinnie have to do with this?"

Ranger sat in the chair beside me.

"Vinnie wrote bond on this guy, he took off. I'll go after him because it'll look suspicious if I don't."

I was slightly confused, but I hadn't read anything on the case, but it looked ugly.

"Babe, you've got the team on you." ESP can be helpful.

"What can I tell Morelli about this?"

Ranger looked at me over his sunglasses.

"He's working on the same case, but he isn't working with RangeMan. You can't talk about it until it's been approved."

"By?"

"Gilman."

"Fuck. So basically I can't."

Ranger smiled. "You can tell him you're working on it."

"Great, get him all mad and leave him hanging. That's wise… not."

I went over and flopped down on the couch. It was better for thinking. Ranger grabbed the three other files off the desk and began reading them over. God, he's hot. Mocha-latte skin is yummy.

He finished reading, came over, and sat down next to me, putting his hand on my thigh. He was really close. Shit, down hormones.

"We're meeting at nine tomorrow morning with Gilman. I don't want you taking the files home since this is a confidential case."

Our eyes locked and I understood. I'd have to stay up all night prepping for the meeting in the morning.

I took out my cell phone and dialed Joe.

"Who's dead," he asked when he answered.

"No one. Listen Joe, I won't be home tonight. I just got assigned to a huge case and I have a meeting in the morning. I don't even know what the case is about."

Shit I had a lot of work to do.

"Why don't you just bring it home. We could eat and maybe talk a little bit about what happened today."

"I can't bring it home. It's a conflict of interest."

Ranger smiled at my choice of words. Soooo not what I meant.

"You want to explain that?"

"You know the case you're working on?"

It took him a minute to process. "Fuck. Steph, no."

"Don't do this Joe."

"This is too dangerous. You can't do this."

"Excuse me? Don't tell me what I can and cannot do. Apparently some people think I can do it."

He shifted subjects, must've known I was getting mad. Whatever gave him that idea? Eye roll.

"Why can't you bring it home? We're working on the same case."

"Gilman is my liaison." "So where are you staying."

"A RangeMan apartment."

Then I looked over to Ranger to make sure it was okay. I never actually asked. He was smiling.

"Fine Cupcake, but I'm talking to the Lieutenant in the morning."

"You are NOT getting RangeMan off this."

"Cupcake, this is big."

"And I'm a big girl."

"So when are you coming home?"

"To your house you mean? I don't know, maybe tomorrow night."

"Fine. You need your clothes."

"I'll be over to get them in a bit."

I hung up and hit my head against the wall.

"Babe," Ranger said, pulling me to him.

"What the hell am I doing?" I asked no one in particular. Why am I still with Morelli? Because the sex is good? Sure.

I rolled my eyes at myself. A relationship with Morelli is just too damn complicated.

"Can you take me to Morelli's to get my stuff? That is, if there's a place for me to stay at RangeMan."

We locked eyes.

"There's always a place for you at RangeMan, it's your choice where you stay."

"What's available?"

"Fourth floor will take a day."

I shrugged. "I don't want to kick one of the boys out, so I'll just stay here," I said and jingled my keys.

He gave me the 1000 watt smile and I realized we had this entire conversation in front of Connie and Lula. I looked over and they both looked baffled.

"I think that's the most I've heard you say," Connie said.

Ranger looked amused.

"Come on Babe," he said and pulled me up and led me out the door.

We rode to Morelli's in silence. When we got there, I noted Joe's truck was in the driveway along with a shiny new black one. Hmmm…

Ranger and I got out and I unlocked the door. Bob the dog came bounding at me, his orange shaggy fur flying everywhere. Morelli followed, his gun drawn. When he saw who it was he lowered it, nodded to Ranger and said hi to me.

"Joe?" came a female voice from the kitchen. And out walked Terry Gilman, gun drawn, looking extremely well-dressed in a black skirt suit. The skirt was extremely short.

Even after she saw me, the gun remained aimed. "Stephanie," she said, a bitter tone to her voice.

I wasn't playing jealous girlfriend anymore. I was done.

"Do you mind putting down the gun?"

I glanced at Ranger who had his hand resting on the back of the waistband of his SWAT pants, where I knew his gun was. At least one of them.

She just glared at me.

"Besides, we all work together here."

"Excuse me? We do not work together. WE work together," she said pointing to her and Joe.

Joe shifted his weight. "Well actually, you all work together," he said and handed her a sheet of paper.

Can anyone say awkward? Because this was.

"Jesus Joe, I have to go. You should've given this to me earlier."

"I just got it. It was faxed."

She went over to Joe, pecked him on the cheek and flounced out. Bitch.

"Cupcake, it was about a case." It probably was, but what Connie and Lula said today was right and I had made up my mind.

"Sure Joe."

And I walked upstairs, dumped my hair products in the largest suitcase and pulled it to the stairs.

"Babe," Ranger said when he saw me. Then he took the stairs two at a time and easily lifted the bag and took it down the stairs.

"A bag Cupcake? That's almost all your stuff."

"If you could take the rest to my apartment, I'd appreciate it."

"Wait? What?" Morelli yelled.

I turned around to face him. "We both know this is never going to work. Everything's a fight with us, everything is so complicated. We aren't devoted to each other, and don't even try to deny it, because I won't." Whatever he had been about to say stopped. He let his shoulders slump and just looked at me.

"It shouldn't just be about sex. I should be able to tell you I love you and I can't. I can't because I don't. Not how I should. It took me a while to realize exactly what was going on, but I did. There shouldn't be people in our lives that we care about as much as we do."

Our eyes locked and a silent moment passed between us. Finally it was out.

"You should only care about the person you love and I realized today, rather dumbly, that I was with the wrong person."

He sighed and pulled me into a hug.

"We gave it a nice shot. We both should have done this earlier."

I nodded. "Yeah. Probably. But we're both stupid."

He shook his head. "No Cupcake, we were both scared to move on." He kissed the top of my head. "I want you to be happy."

"You too Joe." I pulled back and looked around. No Ranger.

"He took your suitcase out of the car as soon as you told me to move all your other stuff to your apartment."

I looked out the window and sure enough, he was waiting by the truck.

"Be careful Cupcake. I'm not happy about this, but I'm glad one of us finally got up the guts," he said and laughed.

"Still friends?"

He hugged me again. "Forever."

Continuing Eleven

Chapter 3

After a couple minutes of standing there, I pulled back.

"I gotta go. That meeting's coming up fast and I have no idea what I'm talking about."

He sighed. "I still think you working on this is a bad idea. Especially with Terry as your liaison with the PD."

"Joe, I'll be fine. Really."

He nodded. "I know. Be safe Cupcake. Bring over Pino's someday and we'll watch the game."

"I will Joe, thanks."

I walked out the door and over to Ranger with a smile on my face. Who would've thought I'd be smiling after breaking up with a man I had been engaged to? Not me. But I was. I was actually proud of myself... and very glad Joe didn't blow up like I thought he would.

Ranger was leaning against the car looking... grim?

"Make up?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Nope, we broke up, for good."

He looked at me like I was dumb. "You're smiling."

"Aren't you Captain Obvious?" I said, getting into the truck. "We better go, I've got a ton of work to do."

"Babe," he said shaking his head. But he went around the truck and got into the drivers seat and drove back to Haywood.

We rode to the fifth floor in silence and Ranger followed me into my cubicle. I overdramatically sighed when I saw the huge, no gigantic, stack on files on my desk. Forget the in-tray, they just started piling them up.

"Do you have an office in your apartment?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

"Good, because I'm not sitting here all day in this chair."

He laughed and pulled me close to him, kissing me on the top of my head. God that felt good. I really didn't want to move, so I just stayed there. I wondered how long Ranger would hold me.

"Boss, we've got a problem," came Bobby's voice a minute later. Damn him.

Ranger pulled away and looked at the file Bobby had handed him.

"Okay, you and Lester go secure the area."

I sat down at my desk and let them do their business. I opened the file on top, leaned back, put my feet on the desk, and began to read. Now if i had a Coke on one side and Cheez Doodles on the other, I'd be good. Of course then the files would be orange, but it'd be worth it. Damn, this file was interesting. It was like reading a freakin' James Patterson novel.

"Babe--"

"Ahhhhh!" I yelled and flew up off the chair.

Ranger and Tank were standing there laughing at me. Okay, Tank was laughing, Ranger was smiling. Might as well be laughing. They did that a lot.

"Babe, I've got to go for about an hour. Read over the files. If you finish, do the searches. When I get back, we'll go up to the apartment and talk about what you want to do and how to handle the meeting."

"What I want to do?" I said and attempted to raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah Babe, what you want to do."

"That was a question. I heard what you said."

"That was him not answering it," Tank cut in chuckling.

I rolled my eyes.

"Yes sir."

Tank laughed harder and Ranger shot him an evil glare, which he didn't see because he was doubled over. I must be the most funny person in the world to Tank.

"Babe, i thought I was a special case?"

"I was being a smartass to Mr. Uncontrollable Laughter over there."

That earned me a Ranger smile that almost made me melt. Hell, who was I kidding, I felt myself sit back down in the chair because I couldn't stand anymore.

"Okay, well good luck. Be careful."

Okay, that was awkward. I'd never told him to be careful before.

"I'll be fine Babe," he said and kissed me on the cheek before walking out.

Three hours later I had made it through all the files and was halfway done with the searches. Ranger still wasn't back. Ugh! I looked at the clock and it was almost seven. O well, I'm packing up shop. I shut down my computer and grabbed all the files before heading to the elevator. I used my key fob to get up to the seventh floor and into the apartment. My suitcase was sitting next to the door with a sticky note on it.

Babe,

I have drawers you know.

Hmmm, guess that was an invitation. So I dragged the suitcase into his bedroom and searched until I found three drawers in the armoire that weren't already occupied. I carefully folded all my clothes and put them in the drawers, then used an unused cabinet in the bathroom for my necessities. Then I stuck the now empty suitcase into the closet.

And now there was nothing to do except work. That was depressing.

Orrrr... I could take a shower. Hmmm...

Yeah, I have no self-control. So I took a shower with that amazing shower gel. Yum!

When I was done, I left my hair down and curly and put on a black wife beater and black panties. I thought I looked cute. I grabbed a blanket from the bed and curled up on the couch to read some more. I had started taking notes halfway through because I was getting confused with all the people involved. I noticed all the PD's files were in here too. I wondered if they had RangeMan files... probably not. That's why they had to work with us.

10:45 and no Ranger. Not a sign. No call either. I was honestly starting to get worried. He said one hour. It's been a lot more than that.

Just then my stomach growled. Okay, internal debate. Wake Ella up this late or traipse downstairs and eat some of the healthy food? Hmmm...

I grabbed my keys and headed downstairs. I'm too nice to wake Ella up, what can I say.

I selected a chicken sandwich and some fruit. Really, it wasn't bad. If I imagined it as a slice of chocolate cake.

I was clad only in my short black robe and jammies standing in front of the open fridge debating another apple when the hairs on the back of my neck prickled.

I turned and saw Ranger leaning against the door to the room.

"Yo," I said.

"Yo yourself," he said back.

He looked down at my robe and raised and eyebrow.

"I need to be comfy to read all that crap. Then I got hungry, I kinda forgot about dinner."

Ranger nodded. "So how far are you?"

"I've read, I've searched, I've taken 20 pages of notes."

He smiled. "Good, now about tomorrow..."

"Noooo! Don't remind me," I whined.

"Babe," Ranger chuckled.

"Fine, fine, but let's go back upstairs, I'm cold and you look beat."

He pulled me to him and wrapped an arm around my waist burying his face in my hair.

"You took a shower."

"Ummhmmm..." Okay, it's sad I know, but that was all I could manage. Not my fault. If you had the sexiest man in the world nuzzling your hair you'd loose all speech too.

"So what happened?" I asked when he pulled away...slightly.

"The guy we went after wasn't there when he was supposed to be. We had to wait and there ended up being a slight altercation."

"Altercation?"

"He got off a couple shots and a few of his guys came out of nowhere with knives. Somebody must've tipped him off."

Ranger unlocked the door and threw his keys into the side dish.

"I'm going to take a shower," he said and pulled his shirt over his head.

Gulp. Was it just me or was it getting really hot in here? It felt hot. I took off my robe and moved into the bedroom to stow it in a drawer. Of course, Ranger was in there (shirtless) getting his clothes.

"Babe," he said, looking over at me.

"Hmmm..?" I said, determined to avoid looking at him.

"So what happened today with Morelli?"

I locked eyes with him. So much for that not looking thing. Jesus, the man was like a train wreck, you couldn't help but stare.

"I grew up and realized I was being an idiot."

"You were being an idiot Babe?"

"Yes. Me."

"How so?"

Awkward. Awkward.

"I wanted something different and I was too afraid to go after it."

"Different?"

"Not the Burg."

He nodded.

"Let's go, I'm not going to be able to stay awake much longer," I said, turning away and walking out into the living room.

It'd be slutty for me to move right from Morelli to Ranger in one day.

I went back over to the couch and waited for Ranger to come back out, listening to the patter of rain on the roof.

**I got up and walked to the kitchen and started some coffee.**

**"Okay, so this case is complicated," I started. "I've never been involved like this. I mean this guy has a great deal going on. Guns for drugs. Both illegal and they've been getting away with it for years."**

**Ranger nodded. "Alvarez is sneaky. The PD was never able to pin anything on him until now. Problem is, the only way to get him is while he's dealing."**

**'So basically, they have to break the law to set it up. Not that they can't do that, but they'd rather you did it. That way you loose the people instead of them,' i said pouring myself a cup.**

**'Want one?" i asked.**

**He nodded so i poured another.**

**"Tomorrow Gilman is going to come in like she's in charge, but she isn't. This became our case the moment they turned it over. We're just working with them so we don't get arrested." He paused and smiled. "Because you don't like that."**

**I had told him and the guys that our first job together. i didn't like getting shot or getting arested. Lester said i didn't know how to have fun. Whatever Les.**

**Ranger came over to me and put his arms around me. He leaned his head forward and kissed my jawline. Instinctively, I leaned into the kiss and he took it as an invitation. He began kissing down my neck and onto my throat, gently turning me around to face him.**

**"I heard what you said to Morelli."**

**I pulled back. "What? How?"**

**He smiled. "Babe, I was right outside the door through most of it. I have good hearing."**

**"Stupid military training."**

**He smiled. "So who were you talking about Babe?"**

**"Hmm...?" He was distracting me so much i didn't remember the question. Him and that damn shower gel.**

**"The person you realized you should be with."**

**I looked him in the eye and said "No one that i can be with."**

**"Why Babe?" he asked.**

**"Because last time we had that shot I went off and told him I couldn't handle it and he sent me back to this other guy."**

**"He was stupid," Ranger said kissing my neck again.**

**"How do you know? Maybe he did the right thing, no matter how much it hurt."**

**"Do you really think that?"**

**"I don't know. He doesn't really talk much. i have no idea how he feels about me."**

**Ranger had pushed me up against the counter now.**

**"How do you feel about him?"**

**Shit! Next question please.**

**"I like him a lot."**

**"Is that it?"**

**I looked down. "Yup."**

**"Liar," Ranger said and finally kissed me on the mouth.**

**"Maybe a little," I conceded.**

**"A little?"**

**I looked up at him. He was so gorgeous. He'd always believed in me, always supported me, and I was in love with him. There was no denying it anymore, I'd done that long enough.**

**"Ranger, I love you."**

**Our eyes locked. His eyes were beautiful. Very dark brown.**

**"Good Babe," he said and kissed me.**

**I pulled back. "But i still don't know how you feel about me."**

**Ranger sat me on the counter so we were eyelevel.**

**"Babe, I... When you were missing, I was a mess. And before that, I killed a man for you. Because he hurt you. And I made a deal with you thinking that would be the only way we'd be together. I lusted for you. i thought that was it..."**

**"But?"**

**"But..."**

"Babe…BABE!" I jumped up off the couch with a start. Ranger was hovering over me, fresh from his shower. God, I'd been dreaming. About telling Ranger I loved him. I loved him? Shit.

I was staring past him recounting the whole dream. Jesus, I was a fuckin' mess. When I was dreaming of getting into a relationship with Ranger… he doesn't do relationships.

I put my head in my hands and pulled me legs up.

"Babe?"

I looked up at his face, which was filled with concern.

"I'm… fine, just weird dream is all," I said and got up.

I went over to the table where all the files were spread out and put them into a pile. "These are the searches. Go through them, I'm going to the gym, come get me when you're done."

"Gym?" Ranger looked shocked.

"Yeah, gym. I've gotta do something to stay awake," I lied. Actually, I just needed to get away from him. Who knew dreams were true? I did love him. And I was in a whole shitload of trouble.


	2. Chapter 4

Continuing Eleven

Chapter 4

I'd been running for nearly an hour when Tank wandered into the gym. He was dressed in a white tank and black shorts. Without looking around, he set a boom box down on a nearby table and turned it up… and up…. And up, until I swore the mirrors around the gym were shaking with 50 Cent's voice. He trampled up onto the treadmill next to me and began at a pace that took me thirty minutes to get up to. We ran for about five minutes before he looked up and into the mirror in front of us. His eyes bugged out when he noticed me, which was only a few seconds before he tripped and fell, being deposited at the end of the treadmill with a thud.

"Shit," he said.

I put my feet on either said of the treadmill and turned it off.

"Hiya Tank," I said innocently.

He groaned and looked at me.

"What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Running?"

"Smartass," I heard him grumble as he got up.

"Stop breaking my men, Babe," came Ranger's voice. I looked over and found him leaning in the entrance of the gym, muscular arms crossed over his bare chest. Gulp.

"I didn't so anything! It was his fault," I said and pointed to Tank.

"Let's go Destructo," Ranger said and pulled me out the door.

When we got back up to the apartment, Ranger turned to me.

"You're running the meeting tomorrow. You know everything you need to."

I gaped at him. "Are you joking?" He just looked at me.

"Why me? I don't know RangeMan policy!" My voice was getting a little hysterical now.

"Follow your spidy sense. Tell Gilman what you need and compromise."

I heaved a sigh. "This is sorta pass/fail isn't it? Like gym. I hated gym."

Ranger chuckled at this. "Gym isn't your best way to exercise."

Double gulp!

"Who's going to be at the meeting?" I asked, picking up my notes and skimming them over.

"You, me, Lester, Bobby, Tank, Morelli, Gilman, and another employee I'm bringing in."

I looked at him. Guess I didn't know the new guy. I yawned. Running takes a lot out of me.

"Where are you sleeping, Babe?"

I looked down at the couch. No way.

I smiled and walked past him into the bedroom, pulling open drawers until I found new jammies to change into. These were cute too. They were Superman, same style as the black ones earlier. I exited the bathroom to find Ranger lying on the bed, hands behind his head, legs folded, watching me. I threw my dirty clothes into the hamper by the dresser and went around to the other side of the bed.

"Night Ranger," I said and clicked off the light. I burrowed down into the covers and was asleep in a second.

6 am is not a good time for me. Especially when I'd only gotten a mere five hours of sleep the night before. I am not a morning person. I require at LEAST ten hours of sleep to be able to function. And donuts the next morning are always a plus as well. Unfortunately for me, this was the morning of morning to not have gotten enough sleep. The alarm rang at 6 am and I smacked it. Hard.

I heard Ranger chuckle and I turned to see him freshly showered and shaved, dressed to kill in badass black, guns included.

"Wear this," he said and threw a couple pieces of black clothing on the bed.

I grumbled and got up, quietly grabbing the clothes and shuffling off to the bathroom.

I used the Bulgari which definitely brightened my mood. When I was all squeaky clean and slightly pruney, I shut off the water and stepped out.

An hour, handful of hair mousse, half a can of hairspray, three swipes of mascara, eyeliner, and lipstick later I was ready.

The outfit Ranger threw at me was a dressy skirt suit. It looked more like it was appropriate for Terry Gilman though. The jacket was worn with only a bra under it, the top of the lace poking out, and the skirt covered my ass and not much else.

I topped it off with black four inch heels, very business-like. My hair had calmed down to a dull roar and the curls fell down my shoulders. Basically: I looked good.

"They're here," Ranger said as I walked into the kitchen. A plate of pancakes, a cup of coffee, and an orange were sitting on the table.

"For me?"

Ranger looked at me. Right. Like he'd eat pancakes. Duh!

"Thanks," I said and sent him a smile.

It took me all of five seconds to down the pancakes and gulp down the coffee. I stared at the orange. To eat it or not. Huh.

I looked up to find Ranger giving me an amused glance. I sighed and grabbed the orange.

"Just in case we get stuck in the elevator and I almost die of hunger."

Ranger gave me all 200 watts as I grabbed the files and headed out the door.

Conference Room 1 was located on the main floor of RangeMan, down a long gray hallway. It was your typical conference room- that is if your idea of a typical conference room was an abnormally large oak table, plasma screens, and a two-way glass mirror. Just another day at the office.

"Relax, Babe," Ranger said. The door opened and Tank, Lester, and Bobby walked in followed close by Terry and Joe.

They all took seats around the table, Ranger at the head.

"We need to do this fast, Manoso," Terry started. "We've received Intel that Hawkins will be making a delivery in two days."

Ranger stood up.

"Precision. I like knowing what I'm getting into," he stated.

"This may be our only chance."

"It would be stupid, no offense, to go in guns blazing. It won't take care of the problem. It'll just put it aside for a while. We need to study the guy and take him down from the inside," said Lester.

"And how is it that you know this?" Terry said rather bitterly.

Lester got a dark look and stared her in the eye. "We have something in common, Sweetcheeks."

"Enough," said Ranger. "Stephanie is coordinating, so she will present the current plan."

Terry and Morelli's eyes flashed to me, just noticing I was there for the first time.

"You're coordinating the op, Cupcake?" Morelli asked incredulously.

I just shot him a look. He couldn't believe I was doing this. Well I'd show him.

"We have a plan. All you need to do is approve it." I passed a file over to both of them.

"Read it over."

Lester, Tank, and Bobby had already been briefed and were waiting for Morelli and Terry to respond.

Terry blew out a sigh. "This is bullshit. Fucking bullshit. Why don't you come up with something that we can actually do? Or better yet, why don't you leave it up to the professionals?" she said with a sneer. "You people have no idea what this is really like."

I laughed at that.

"They stick their asses out there more than you do."

Morelli jumped in. "Terry's right, Steph. This isn't what we agreed on when we said we would work together. None of our guys are going to be in there."

"Your men are all known as cops. My men are known as criminals," Ranger supplied from the shadows.

Terry snorted. "All the more reason we shouldn't be doing this."

I was getting agitated. The plan worked.

"It's my way or the highway on this one. You don't like it; you can find someone else to do your dirty work."

Terry got up. "I think we're done here." And she walked out.

Morelli looked at me and then down at the file. "Do you have any idea what you'd be getting into Steph? I don't think this is a good idea."

He turned to Ranger. "We'll be in touch."

Ranger inclined his head.

"You can find yourselves out," Tank said gruffly.

I blew out a sigh. "I'll be right back."

I ran out the door and caught up with Morelli as he was signing out with the guy at the desk.

"Morelli, at least think about it."

He turned and looked at me.

"Where did you stay last night?"

I was getting impatient. "Here, I told you."

Morelli nodded and looked me up and down. "You never dressed like this for me."

"I never conducted a meeting before either. It's a day of new things. Now please think about it."

Morelli ran a hand through his hair. "Cupcake, you want to set up an entire new life to do business with a mob family. That is fucking crazy Steph. If they find out, they'll shoot you on the spot. No questions asked. And the PD will just be sitting here until it's all over waiting for information? It doesn't work that way."

"If the PD were to be involved, it may blow our cover. I can't risk that. You'd have to trust me that I would include you in the actual take-down. Lester is right. Taking down Hawkins isn't going to end this mess. We need to get inside."

Morelli shook his head. "Maybe. But I don't like it."

"Like it how? As a cop or as my ex?"

"Both."

"Maybe we can find a way to have the PD involved more without actually being directly in the set-up. Come up with some ideas and call me."

"Was that an invitation?" Morelli asked with that look in his eye.

I rolled my eyes and pushed him out.

"No Joe, in fact, call my line here."

He pouted. "I'll see what I can do."  
He clamored up into his Ford 4x4 and sped out of the lot, Terry in the passenger seat.

The hair on the back of neck prickled seconds before I felt Ranger's hand settle on the base of my neck.

"That went well," I said sarcastically.

"Remember- you have to apply enough pressure. People wear down." And he walked away. Hmm, something to think about.

I walked back to the conference room and snagged Lester by the shirt. "Can we talk?"

He looked at me and nodded, putting his arm on the small of my back and guiding me out the room.

"Nice job in there. And nice outfit. Sexy."

I couldn't help it, I blushed. "Thanks Les. Listen…."

He held up a hand. "If this is about the other night, nothing happened."

I felt tension ease from my shoulders at his words. "We were both seriously wasted. It's a miracle we made it home alive."

I chuckled a little bit. "I remember us tripping over the curb and falling into the street coming out of the club."

"Yeah, took about ten minutes for Tank and Hal to haul our asses up and get us into the car."

We both laughed a little bit at that.

"Well thanks for the use of your apartment."

He flashed me a grin. "No problem. Anytime." Tempting. Nooo! Stop those thoughts.

"One question though."

"Shoot."

"Your shirt?"

He broke out laughing.

"Lester! LESTER!"

He was bent over at the waist and held his hand out in a 'one-minute' gesture.

"You…." Wheeze. "You told me you liked sleeping in black T-shirts."

I narrowed my eyes.

"And… you asked me if I got them from Batman."

Oh Lord.

Lester fell into a fit of hysterics as Bobby came out. "Les man, we've gotta hit the building on fifth for the night."

Lester slumped. "Way to ruin the mood." I smiled.

"Have fun," I said and gave them both a finder wave.

Just before he left Lester turned back. "Why the hell were you talking about Batman?"

"You better go," I said and hurried off to my desk.

I grabbed my keys off my desk and proceeded to the office.

Connie and Lula were staring at me as I entered.

"Damn girl," Lula said.

"Is that supposed to be a business suit, Steph?"

I flopped down on the couch with the two files Connie handed me.

"I'm running an op for RangeMan and I had a meeting this morning."

Connie and Lula did the staring thing again.

"You run the meetings?" Connie asked in awe.

"This one. Usually Ranger does."

"You really movin' up in the world, white girl."

I smiled. I guess I was.

"Guess stuff like this is probably beneath you now," Connie chided.

"I can run a meeting, but I can't make a capture without ending up rolling in garbage. Not many things have changed."

They both smiled. "So Steph…." Connie started.

"Can we come see your new place?"

I looked puzzled. "You know the apartment at RangeMan."

Yikes! "Umm, well it isn't my apartment. It's one of the boys. I might keep it while this case is going on, but then I'll be moving back home."

"Sooo…can we see it?" Lula asked.

"Uh well…" But I was saved from an answer when Ranger walked through the door.

"Ladies. Babe."

He walked over to me, never breaking eye contact.

"Got a phone call from Morelli."

Oh really.

"Seems he's reconsidering the offer."

I smiled.

"Just have to apply the right pressure."

This earned me a full-on Ranger smile. Connie handed him a body receipt and he turned back to me. "Proud of you, Babe," he said.

"So who's the other guy working with us?"

All I got was an enigmatic smile. "He's coming in tomorrow."

So it was a him. Lots of information there. Wonder if he's as hot as the other MerryMen. I mentally fanned myself. I heard Ranger laugh softly. Damn ESP.

"So I put pressure on Morelli. Who puts the pressure on Ms. Mobster?"

Ranger gave me a dark look. "Morelli."

He nodded to the girls and blew out the door and into the wind.

"We should have a girls' night," Connie said.

"Yeah girl. We'll pick you up at your apartment tonight," Lula said and they both shuffled out the back door before I had the chance to say something. I heard tires squeal and saw a flash of Lula's red Firebird before I looked down at Connie's desk.

'Out to Lunch'

Yeah. Go figure.

At six I was starting to panic. How the hell do I get Connie and Lula through here without them knowing I was staying in Ranger's apartment. Hell, how do they even get in here. I was still in the business suit, having just finished making some major changes to the game plan, pacing around Ranger's apartment. I heard the locks tumble and keys being thrown into the dish on the sideboard and suddenly Ranger appeared.

"Looking a little scary, Babe," he said, giving me the patented eyebrow raise.

How to put this.

"Lula and Connie want to have a girls' night out."

He looked at me with the 'this relates to me how?' face.

"Well… they sort of want to see my apartment here. And I don't have one."

Ranger shook his head, went over to the panel, and ordered dinner for us.

"You've got a problem."

I nodded.

"Ask Lester."

The light bulb popped on. What an ingenious idea. Lester was neat. Neat enough I could slip a few of my things in and pretend I live there for a day.

"Great idea!" I flipped out my cell and dialed Lester.

"Tell me a joke," he said, answering.

"Uh… a horse walks into a bar and the bartender asks 'why such a long face'?"

Lester cracked up.

"I was being sarcastic, Sexy. Whatcha need?"

I smiled into the phone. "I need a place to live."

"Thought Ranger had that covered."

"I need a place Connie and Lula can see when they come get me tonight."

He whistled. "Now I get it. And you want to use mine." It was a statement, not a question.

"Well… ugh… if that's okay?" I crossed my fingers and told God I'd give up donuts completely for a month if he said yes.

"You'll owe me. And watch where you put your girly things."

And he hung up. I stuck my tongue out at the phone and mimicked his last sentence.

When I got back to the kitchen, two plates of lasagna were waiting for me.

"Yum," I moaned and dug right in, completely bypassing the all green oil and vinegar salad that was next to it.

I finished dinner about when Ranger finished his salad. He was staring at me with those dark eyes he gets from time to time.

"It was great," I said and hopped off my stool to go pack my things.

Lester was right. I was going to owe him big time. I had Rex on the counter and all the tampons under the bathroom sink. My clothes were hung in the closet, my shoes under the bed. A flat iron, curling iron, can of hairspray, and bag of make-up now adorned the bathroom counter. Thank God Lester ate like me or I would have had to make a trip to the grocery store. I was just admiring my fast handiwork when my cell rang.

"What's shakin white girl. We're down here at the desk and the big guy won't let us through."

I sighed.

"Put him on the phone."

There was a bit of shuffling and scraping on the line and Tony, resident gatekeeper at RangeMan, came on the line.

"You know these girls?"

Tony and I were old friends. Well, he learned who I was because I kept loosing my ID to get into the building. We said the usual hi and good-bye, chatted about the latest Rangers game, stuff like that.

"Yeah, can you take them up to Lester's?"

"Sure thing, Steph." And he disconnected.

A minute later there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find Tony flanked by Connie and Lula.

"You'd think this place was Fort Knox," Connie mused.

"Some days it is," I said.

I thanked Tony and ushered the girls inside.

"Feel free to snoop, I've gotta change."

I walked back into the bedroom and picked out a pair of tight black pants and a of the shoulder red top and changed. I heard them moving things and opening drawers in the other room. I heard the entertainment center door slide open and suddenly a sultry Spanish beat was pounding out the speakers. Lester had a great sound system.

"You listen to this?" Lula shouted over the beat.

"Sometimes," I lied and hit the button to turn down the volume.

"What do you need sexy Latina music for, Steph?" Connie asked.

"It's upbeat."

That's when the door open and a half asleep Lester entered the room.

He put his jacket down on the back of the chair, peeled off his t-shirt, and grabbed a beer before plopping down on the couch. Connie, Lula, and I just stared.

"And who are you?" Lula asked, not taking her eyes off his uncovered torso.

"Name's Lester." He flashed an amused glance my way.

"OOOOH!" said Connie.

Lester pretended to look hurt. "You mean you don't know who I am?"

He turned to me. "Honey, they don't know who I am. I'm hurt." And he got up, came up behind me, and put his arms around my waist, planting a kiss on my cheek.

Connie and Lula stood there with their mouths hanging open. Probably I looked like that too.

"You're gonna have to pay for that later, Sexy," he said as he bit into my neck.

Now see, this wasn't supposed to be happening. I imagine this was Lester having a good ol time and payment for using his apartment. Ha fucking ha. Now what the hell do I do?

"I….I…" I trailed off.

"Uh well, Steph was gonna come with us for a ladies night," Lula said. "But if you wanna come, we'd be glad to have ya."

Lester smiled his smile that made all women trust him. Reliable, responsible, respectable. That was our Lester. "Thanks ladies, but I just got off shift. I think I'll stay in tonight."

He spun me around and pulled me in for a long, hot kiss. His lips were on mine before I knew it and the worst part was, I didn't protest. It seemed easier to just kiss him back and explain this whole mess later while plotting a suitable payback. It was a real hardship to stand there and be kissed by possibly the most drop dead gorgeous man I'd ever met. I was crying a river.

"Try to come back before I have to go to work," he said on a wink and disappeared into the bedroom.

Woo, hot flash.

I lead them out of the apartment as we made our way to a new club in town. As soon as the questions about Lester came up, I started ordering shots. That's why, when I got back to RangeMan at two in the morning, it took Tony and Hal to drag my ass up to Ranger's apartment. They had to knock since they couldn't find my key fob in the mass of stuff I had shoved into my purse. A groggy, boxer clad Ranger opened the door.

"Sorry boss," Hal started. "We couldn't find her keys and she can't find anything."

I remember mumbling something about being a bit drunk and Tony practically laughing his ass off.

"I think you're a couple drinks past a bit there, Steph." Ranger scooped me up and shut the door, taking me into the bedroom and dropping me down onto the bed. As he leaned down to help me untangle the shirt I had brought over my head, I pulled him close to me. "You smell nice." Ranger quirked his lips.

"Come on, Babe, put these on," he said and handed me a pair of black silk jammies I had purchased the week before.

He helped me into the bathroom and I slowly changed, trying to get the world to stay right side up.

Somehow I made it back to the bed and fell down face first, instantly falling into an almost dead state.

I woke up to the smell of fries. Fries fries fries. Glorious fries. I rolled over onto my back and threw an arm over my eyes to block the rising sun.

"Time to get up," Ranger said. He was kneeling down next to the bed on my side holding a large coke and a McDonald's bag. Bless the man. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and managed to stand up. "Take these." Ranger handed me what looked like two Advil and the coke. I downed them and eyed the bag.

"You gonna give me those?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, if you promise to shower meet me in the Conference room in an hour."

I mumbled and he must have taken that as a yes because he relinquished his hold over the blessed bag of fries. I moaned at the first one and saw Ranger's eyes darken.

He stood up and walked to the doorway. "One hour."

And he was gone.

Dressed in another Ranger outfit of a short leather miniskirt and black stretchy top, I made my way into the Conference room to find Lester, Tank, Bobby, Ranger, and someone I didn't know waiting for me.

"Nice night?" Lester asked with a huge ass grin.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yeah it was great. The entire Burg now thinks we're 'living in sin'! My phone was FULL of messages!"

I huffed and planted myself in the only available chair.

Ranger lifted his eyebrows at Lester.

"Just paying Bombshell over here back for the use of my apartment."

Ranger's face went blank.

"Let's start," he barked.

Tank stood up.

"Thanks to the plan updates provided by Steph and her coaxing of Morelli, the PD has agreed to our terms."

I smiled. Go me!

"The Mancini Brothers," Tank began, passing us each a file. "Are not good guys. They are Vito Grizzoli's godsons. They gun-run, sell drugs, kill people. The whole nine yards."

He took a deep breath and brought a picture of a good looking blonde man around my age. He was wearing an expensive suit, but his occupation was at a restaurant. Warning.

"This brings us to Aidan Hawkins. He is a close friend of Dino and sets up most of the deliveries for the brothers."

He pressed a button and the image changed to some heavy duty guns.

"Aidan Hawkins is making a delivery for the Mancini brothers tomorrow night at a warehouse downtown. Despite our concerns about the PD blowing our plan to shit, they've decided to try and apprehend Hawkins then get him to talk. RangeMan is having no part in this. Depending how the delivery goes tonight, we'll know how to proceed."

I'd never heard Tank talk this much. But he was spilling off facts, so it wasn't entirely off character.

"We're going to put a lot of manpower behind this project. There will be two teams. Terry Gilman knows Dino Mancini through her father. She is the contact on that side. Ranger will go in as a prospective buyer and try to make a deal. Bobby, you're going to work with Morelli on this to set up surveillance. I don't want this messed up. All the equipment has to be unidentifiable or at the least untraceable if found."

Bobby nodded his head and began jotting down ideas in the file.

"The PD wants Dino brought in first. That will make Marty Mancini more difficult. More than likely that operation will still be going on when Dino is brought into custody. We can't screw up and lose Marty." He looked over at me.

"Marty's yours, Steph."

I sucked in a deep breath and stood up.

"Tank's right, this is more complicated. What I have so far is that I, and someone else, can go in posing as a couple. That way there is backup if need be. Maybe they could be engaged and looking to start in the business."

The man I didn't know cut in.

"Mancini has his own harem. Your team should be a man and his top woman."

He wanted me to play the role of head whore?

"And how would that help us?"

"Whores talk," was all he said. I was feeling a little defensive, Lula having been a 'ho in a previous life.

"I disagree. I think that would leave only one person open to doing something where having a legitimate couple would bring two in."

"All you are needed for is backup. Mancini would respect a man who lives a life like his own."

I threw my hands up. "I'm running the op."

"Not if you're going to do something stupid like that, you aren't."

"This is stupid."

"I agree."

I let out deep calming breaths. In…out… count to ten.

"Whatever can be better done for surveillance is our best bet," I said calmly.

"_My way _is the best bet," the man said coldly.

Lester stood up and walked over to the fax machine where a new fax was being spouted out.

"This solves our little debacle," he said.

He looked to Ranger. "Elena is currently working under cover for the FDA as Marty Mancini's mistress."

Ranger nodded. "Fang, you'll go in looking to get into business with Mancini. You just moved here from Miami and are looking to start up. Babe, you'll be his mistress."

I was pissed. How dare that little know-nothing's idea be chosen over mine! Fang. What kind of name is Fang anyway?

"Fine," I said a little indignantly. Guess this wasn't my meeting anymore. Little Fang just came in and took it all over. Kiss ass. Teacher's pet… little dumb f-…

"Babe!"

I looked up to find Ranger and everyone else staring at me.

"What?" Oh intelligent Steph. Nice going.

"Lester and Tank are going to start putting together a surveillance plan for you and Fang."

Lester ran a hand though his hair. "A lot of this is going to be flying by the seat of our pants. Basically sitting outside somewhere and waiting for gunshots. We can't bug you without them finding out. The only surveillance we'll have is what we can get by hacking into their security cameras. Elena's been in for three months now with only an occasional satellite phone call into her headquarters. "

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach knowing that I was going to be stuck for God knows how long with Mr. Know It All as his sex slave. A typical situation for the Bombshell Bounty Hunter. We can only hope I blow Marty's damn cartel off the face of the planet by accident. And who the hell was Elena?

"That's all for now," Tank said and got up and left. I hauled off and punched Lester in the arm for good measure. "Shit, Sexy. That's quite a right hook."

"You… dumbass! How could you do that in front of them? I got stuck answering questions about the sexy man who had his tongue down my throat and who's apartment I was staying in! This is the BURG!" I shouted as if that meant something to him.

He just laughed, pecked me on the cheek, and said he'd be home for pot-roast at five. I wanted to scream.

I turned back to gather all the files together when I noticed Ranger and Fang staring at me. And that's when I noticed it. Fang was about six two with a mocha latte complexion and deep brown eyes. His medium length black hair was parted down the middle so small chunks fell into his eyes. Even with a shirt on, I could tell his body was a temple to be revered by all women. He was a lean mean Cuban sex machine. With an uncanny resemblance to Ranger.

"Babe," Ranger said and I realized I'd been staring for a few minutes.

"Yeah sorry."

Ranger looked amused, Fang looked… nothing.

"Babe, this is my older brother Fang, Fang this is Stephanie Plum."

His eyes held mine for a minute before he extended his arm.

"Nice to meet you."

I took it.

"You too."

Then he broke out in a wide grin.

"Can you tell me about the Porsche getting smashed by a garbage truck?"

I rolled my eyes and started grabbing at files.

"Or the garage blowing up?"

I started toward the door.

"Or when you set the dead guy up in a lawn chair?"

I was walking down the hall.

"Later then?" he called and laughed.

It was soooo not funny.

The rest of my day went by without notice. Lester packed up all my things and sent them back to Ranger's apartment and I completed all the work in my in-tray before six. I took the elevator to the seventh floor and had my shoes and pantyhose off before the door opened. I unlocked the door and threw my keys in the sidedish and took off my shirt.

I twisted around and unzipped my skirt when a voice said, "You might want to stop now." I shrieked and looked over to find Fang lounging on the couch watching T.V, cigarette dangling out the side of his mouth.

"You scared the shit out of me."

"You scared the shit out of me. I didn't think anyone lived up here."

I looked at him like he was crazy. "Ranger lives here. And there is no smoking," I said, eyeing the cig.

Fang shook his head. "Not the last time I was here. He gave me keys and told me to make myself at home. He only stays here when he works late and doesn't want to drive… erm, nevermind. So he lives here now, huh?" He totally disregarded my no smoking warning as he flicked his ashes into a tray on the table. He had strong looking arms, a cross tattooed on the underside of one forearm.

I shrugged. "Guess so."

Then I sprinted off to the bedroom to change into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

Fang watched me as soon as I came into view. I grabbed the coffee from over the counter and started a pot. Then I opened another cabinet and removed graham crackers and peanut butter, grabbing a knife and coming back out to the living room.

"So are you and my little brother a couple?"

I laughed. I couldn't help it.

"No. We definitely are not a couple."

He looked skeptical. "So are you just screwing each other then?"

Rhino mode.

"No, we work together. My apartment is about ten minutes away and I've been putting in major hours lately. So I've been staying here. Long story short I moved out of my ex-boyfriend's place and am in the process of moving my family out of my apartment. Don't guess about my life."

He nodded.

"Seems like you are something to him," he said. "Don't fuck around." And he walked out of the apartment.

Sigh.

The call came in at one in the morning. Ranger and I were both in bed and the ever-so-charming Fang was curled up on the couch, not asleep yet. That was complicated. When Ranger informed him he was sleeping on the couch, he looked at me with contempt and asked where "sleeping beauty" was crashing. A muscle worked in Ranger's jaw as he walked away. After spending the evening playing guitar, smoking, and drinking the rest of the beer, the chords of "Stairway to Heaven" had just dissipated. The phone let out a loud ring and, as I was waking up and Ranger was leaning over to grab it, we heard numerous creative methods of cussing come from the other room and a bottle smash.

"Yo," Ranger barked into the phone.

He listened for about a minute and let out a conversational "fuck" and hung up.

Placing the phone back in its rightful place, he turned to me.

"The delivery went bad."

I imagined what 'bad' could mean on a bust like this.

"How bad?" I asked, praying to God Morelli wasn't lying in a hospital bed somewhere, or worse, dead.

"Bad."

And he got out of bed, tugging on black cargos and a t-shirt in the process. I followed suit with jeans and the closest thing resembling a top I could find.

"What the hell?" asked Fang when we appeared in the living room. He was picking up the shattered shards of glass from the bottle of Jack Daniels that had hit the floor when he flew out of bed.

"You work in security?" I asked skeptically. He was nothing like Ranger. Ranger didn't smoke, didn't drink, and slept lightly.

He fixed me with a look. "I've been in Colombia for two years. I'm indulging myself."

Made me wonder what else he had indulged in earlier in the evening when we weren't around. And where. I visibly shuddered.

"What happened?" he asked and broke me out of my scary visual.

"The PD fucked up," I said helpfully.

Ranger smiled. "Babe," he said and started out the door. I followed and saw Fang drop the glass back on the floor and do the same.

As soon as I walked into the Conference room I saw blood. Everywhere. Three officers were being taken care of by RangeMan personnel and I saw four ambulances outside. Terry was sporting a gash on her arm, but seemed unharmed otherwise. Morelli was a mess. He was slouched, for lack of a better word, in a chair around the table. There was a long slice down his cheek, one eye was almost completely swollen shut, he was holding his side and not moving his other hand and I clearly saw a bullet wound on his thigh.

I shrieked and ran to him.

"Joe." It was all I could get out. I couldn't believe how many men were injured. There had to be seven in all.

"Go ahead… say it…" Morelli got out, then winced.

"What?" I asked, swiping away a tear that had somehow made it down my cheek. Hey, it was an emotional time.

"I told you so… go ahead. I can take it." He tried to laugh a bit, but ended up coughing and wheezing and holding his side.

"Broken rib," Bobby said, kneeling down next to me to check out Morelli's chest. "Painful. Try not to move."

He pushed here and there and Morelli spat out a "damn it."

Bobby handed me a towel.

"Apply pressure to the leg until the paramedics can take over. Don't leave him."

Yeah, like I was going to do that.

"Why did you come here?" I asked Morelli.

"Closer," was his only reply.

Five minutes later Morelli was strapped to a gurney and loaded into an ambulance. I watched the vehicle pull out of the parking lot and merge into traffic before I went back inside. As much as I wanted to follow Morelli to the hospital, I still had a job to do. Morelli'd probably be out until late tomorrow anyway.

A cleaning crew was busy at work in the old conference room, so I ventured further down the hall where Tank and Lester were standing.

"You okay?" Lester asked me as we took our seats.

"Yeah, just worried."

He nodded and gave me a quick hug before looking up at Ranger who was clearly ticked off.

"I think the appropriate words here are I told you so," Lester said to Terry.

"Shut the fuck up," she replied. How eloquent.

"What happened?" Ranger asked.

Terry sighed.

"We had everything set up. Everyone was in place, we had audio and visual. Everything was smooth at first. A black Mercedes pulled up and Aidan Hawkins and his sidekick Neil Spencer got out with their two bodyguards."

She inserted a memory stick into the computer at the far side of the room. The scene she just explained popped up on the screen. The men were standing next to the Mercedes which was parked alongside an abandoned warehouse.

"Two unmarked trucks pulled up with the merchandise. Three men to a truck. Armed."

She clicked and two trucks appeared on the screen, six men guarding trucks full of giant wood crates.

"Who was the deal with?" I asked.

"Mancini was selling with Jose Alverez."

"How much?"

"Four mil."

Shit. I can't even imagine that much money.

"We were expecting the guards. We had 10 men set up to go in and five on surveillance, including Morelli and I."

Ranger nodded and she continued.

"About ten minutes after all this, one semi and a limo pull up."

Another picture.

"Alvarez gets out, him and Hawkins talk."

It only appears that Alvarez has two bodyguards and two loaders. The loaders are unarmed, as you can see." She zoomed in on the men.

Ranger nodded.

"Alvarez gets the money, we go in. This is where it all gets shot to hell."

She shook her head and flipped the picture.

"Our ten guys come out and surround them. The four bodyguards all whip out guns and so do the six loaders. We didn't like the odds, so we called the backup ten in. They made a second ring around."

The men dropped their weapons, Hawkins and Alvarez surrendered. That's when we knew something was up, but it was too late. Morelli and I ordered them to fall back, but it didn't do any good."

She clicked up a picture of about twenty guys with guns coming out the back of Alvarez's truck.

"It was a free for all. Ten men died, and Alvarez made off with the money and stole both trucks. All I can say is the Mancini brothers are not going to be happy about this."

I was speechless. Talk about an opt gone seriously wrong. I don't think you can screw up worse than that.

"You fucked that up all right," Fang supplied. "Maybe you should have gotten a little background before you went in. Known what your were up against."

I smiled when Terry turned red.

"We'll wait for a reaction from the Mancini brothers before we start anything," Tank said.

"You said Hawkins was Dino's friend?" I asked.

Terry nodded.

"We might have a problem then."

Everyone looked at me.

"Marty and Dino are in business together, but they don't like each other. Everything is a competition."

"So what?" Terry said, growing impatient.

"I have a feeling Marty isn't going to be happy about this."

Fang shook his head. "Mob families don't turn on each other like that."

"They do if they want power," I shot back.

"You think Marty will disown his brother and try to do things on his own? Hawkins had all the contacts."

No. That's not what I thought at all. My spidey sense told me Marty was not one to mess with. It happens like that with twins. Good twin bad twin. Sure both these guys are bad persay, but maybe one was better than the other.

"I think Marty will try and get Hawkins' contacts. I don't trust him is all."

Fang laughed.

"Well. If you don't like him. What great reasoning. They've been together this long."

Fang could be a real pain in the ass.

"Steph has a point. Keep an eye on the Mancini brothers and Hawkins," Ranger said.

Ha! I win this round, buddy.

Lester yawned and I followed suit.

Fang looked dead.

"Let's get some sleep," Tank said. Everyone mumbled agreement and scattered out. Ranger, Fang, and I walked back down the hall toward the elevator, but when we got to the other conference room I stopped. I looked at the chair Morelli was in and remembered Terry's words. Ten dead. That was almost Morelli.

I felt an arm come around me.

"Come on, Babe."

Ranger steered me away from the scene and back up to the apartment.

Fang said something like a goodnight and fell onto the couch. I walked into the bedroom and sat on the bed, making no move to go to sleep.

It never hits you how real everything is. Even when I got stabbed and shot at and everything, it was just another day. I always made it through. But seeing someone that means so much to me be so close to death… well it just makes you think. I felt the bed dip a bit as Ranger came up behind me and start massaging my shoulders. It felt amazing.

"Don't think about it," he whispered next to my ear. Yeah right.

"Do you want to go?"

I shook my head.

"No. I just want him to be okay."

"Sleep. Long day tomorrow."

And he stopped kneading my shoulders. I decided sleep would be a good idea and changed again. When I came back it was dark and Ranger was under the covers. I slipped in and hunkered down when I felt his arms come around me.

I turned into them and buried my face in Ranger's chest, inhaling his scent and feeling safe. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my lips before settling into a comfortable sleeping position and dozing off.

Ranger let me sleep in until nine. He'd set the alarm for me and left me a note saying "call me." I decided I would shower first; Bulgari always cheers me up.

After the shower I dug around and found a box of Frosted Flakes and poured a cup of coffee.

"You two looked pretty cozy last night," said Fang.

I screamed and picked up a kitchen knife all in one movement. Nice. I didn't know I could do that. When I looked up and only saw Fang's cocky smile in front of me, I calmly put the knife back and gave him the Burg glare.

"Are you always here?"

He shrugged. "Nothing else to do."

I got an idea. "You say you do security?"

He nodded, casting a weary look at me and I smiled.

After calling Ranger and letting him know my plans for the day, I sped off in the Mercedes, Fang in the driver's seat.

"Pull in here," I said when he reached Vinnie's.

"Damn," he said. "You're really gonna make me do this shit again?"

I smiled. "Nothing better to do, remember?"

He slid his shades on and eased out of the truck. Fang is a rock star, I'm convinced. He wore a CBGB's shirt, the sleeves only covering part of the tats on his arm. His black hair was styled up and messy today, his face scruffy with day old beard. He was hot. And for some reason, he looked good smoking. He was the bad boy in the leather jacket that sneaked a smoke between classes in high school.

He let me go past him to enter the office first, lighting a cig on the way.

"Hey guys," I said coming in and flopping onto the couch.

They didn't respond. They were too busy staring at Fang who had taken to holding up the wall by the door.

"Connie, Lula, this is Fang. He… he's helping RangeMan."

"Ulk," said Lula who was blatantly staring with huge eyes.

"Uh, hi, uh," Connie said.

I rolled my eyes.

"You got anything for me?"

"Yeah," Connie said, rifling around through the files without taking her eyes off Fang.

I grabbed the files and looked at the first one.

"Manny Goldburg. Manny got caught for peeing in public. Yuck."

Fang came over and pulled the file out of my hand.

He read it over and looked at me.

"What kind of bounty hunter are you?"

"A bad one?" I said.

"Godamn," he said. "Jesus fucking Christ."

"You know, you don't have to swear every other word. And stop blowing smoke in my face!" I yelled and grabbed the cig, throwing it on the floor and stepping on it to put it out.

He took a step forward so he was glowering over me. "I can fucking swear as much as I godamn want and I will have a damn cig if I fucking want one, Princess."

He pulled his pack out and lit a new one.

Yeah, this was going to be a great day. I can see us skipping and holding hands by the end of it. Not.

"So we heard about Morelli," Connie began cautiously.

I nodded. "I figure I'll go see him later."

"You know what happened?" Lula asked.

I sighed. "He was involved in the case I'm working on. The PD and RangeMan differed in their views on how to handle the situation. Turns out we were right."

It didn't feel good and they knew it.

"You going back to him?" Connie asked.

I sat down. Sure, I'd thought about it. I'd thought about how I'd feel if he had died. If I could live with that. But then I decided that I would feel bad no matter what. Morelli was a good guy and had part of my heart.

Fang was listening closely, I could tell. I had no idea why he found my life so interesting. Probably just wants something else to fight with me about.

"No. We're friends, so I'm glad he's okay, but I'm not going back."

Connie and Lula smiled.

"How's Batman?" Lula asked, feigning indifference.

I glanced back at Fang and was horrified to find him hanging on every word.

"We should go," I said standing up.

With that Fang and I left for a fun filled day together.

Manny Goldburg resides on a 2x2 tin trailer on a patch of brown grass just on the outskirts of the Burg. Fang pulled the SUV to just before the metal fence with a "Beware of Dog" sign attached. Fang sighed and I attempted to raise my eyebrow.

"Not a fan of dogs?" I asked teasingly.

He reached into the backseat and pulled out a shotgun. "Nope."

I was out of the car and two steps from the latch on the gate when a menacing black dog bounded around the back of the trailer and galloped for us.

"Holy shit!" I yelped and jumped back.

Fang threw a 'you're a pansy' look at me before aiming the shotgun and firing. I heard the dog yelp, tuck its tail between its legs, and run off the way it came.

"Damn dogs," Fang muttered.

I stifled a laugh. Big bag Fang was scared of the little doggie. Now I did laugh.

"Let's get this over with," Fang said as he pushed open the gate and strode up to the trailer. I followed and banged on the door.

"Mr. Goldburg, I have a package for you." I shouted.

Manny was five foot five with a shaggy beard and a huge gut. And Manny apparently lacked a fondness for clothing. So when Manny opened the door to receive his non-existent package, we got the full view and it was _not_ pretty.

"Jesus!" Fang exclaimed. I would have said something, only I am extremely used to over half my skips being naked at some point during the capture. I was immune to it now.

"What is it?" Manny grunted.

"I lied, you jumped bail and have to reschedule."

Manny snorted. "I ain't rescheduling. A man has the right to piss on his own property."

"Not when there is a busload of kids right out front," I said.

"They shouldn't have been there."

"Oh, right, the bus should have broken down someplace else!"

He nodded. "Yup. See, you got it. Now leave me alone."

He went to close the door when Fang came forward and shoved his boot in the doorframe. "Get your filthy ass out here now before I do it for you." Uh-oh, Fang was not a happy camper.

"Get out of here before I call the police," Manny grumbled.

Fang rolled his eyes before grabbing Manny's shoulders and spinning him around, quickly securing the handcuffs around his wrists.

Manny was halfway to the car before he mentioned his clothes.

"I can't go to jail naked! They'll kill me! Perverts!" he hollered and fought against Fang.

"Sucks to be you," Fang said and wrangled him into the backseat.

We were halfway to the police station before Fang spoke.

"That didn't seem to surprise you."

I rolled my eyes. "Most of my take-downs go like that. Actually, you helped out a lot. Usually I have to chase them down and the naked ones tend to put stuff on them to keep me from taking them in."

"Stuff?" Fang asked, peering at me from over his sunglasses.

"Vaseline, grease, lube, pizza, eggs, you name it basically."

He laughed. "Damn. At least it's interesting."

I sighed. "You could say that."

"You ever think about training?"

I watched the houses pass by. "Yeah, I've thought about it. I love food too much."

"Ranger is a hardass. I'm sure you could come up with an arrangement that didn't make you lose all food."

I thought about it and shrugged.

"Why do you call him Ranger?"

Fang looked over at me.

"Just wondering. It seems odd that his brother calls him by his street name."

"I could never call him Ricardo, that's our dad. My mom calls him Ricky." I snickered.

"I used to call him Ricky, then he hit fifteen and learned that wasn't cool. So it was Ric after that. But that was back when he was a Ric."

I was confused. "What does that mean?"

"It means Ranger is a title of honor and respect. He earned that name. As soon as he earned it, he stopped being Ric and started being Ranger. I'll call him by his name when it is just the family, but I refuse to degrade what he has done when we are working. He's earned my respect."

I thought about that. It meant a lot that his older brother would respect him like that. It made me respect Fang a little more too.

"There are a lot of men who go into the Rangers that don't come out with the nickname Ranger. Why him?"

"The title was given by his commanding officer. I can't tell you more than that. If he wants you to know, he'll tell you."

And that was the end of the conversation as we pulled up to the cop shop.

Thirty minutes later I was sailing into Vinnie's, body receipt in hand.

"Got the pisser?" Connie said, laughing her full head off.

I nodded.

She abruptly stopped laughing when Fang walked in the door, flanked by Ranger and Lester. Hell, I stopped smiling. My jaw dropped, my heart sped up, my mouth went dry, and I drooled. I know I did.

"Looking a little shell shocked, Babe," Ranger said with an amused look.

Gulp. "No, just surprised to see you." And I flashed a big smile.

Connie piped up. "Well if it isn't Lester!"

Lula smiled. "Hmm, you got yo'self a fine man there, Steph."

Jesus. I looked at Lester and he was grinning from ear to ear. Ranger on the other hand looked pissed, but apparently Lester didn't notice because he came over to me and put his arm around my waist.

"What can I say? She has good taste." And he leaned down and bit my earlobe.

Fang stared at us, looked at Ranger, and back to us… then broke down laughing. I mean seriously laughing.

I shoved Lester away. "You've had your fun," I said laughing.

"More than enough," Ranger said and gave him a hard punch to the side.

Lester was too busy laughing to notice.

"Okay, boys," I yelled.

They stopped. Good boys.

"Babe, we got some new info."

His face didn't look happy. Joy!

"Guess that means I'm gone. Talk to you girls later," I said and, with a small wave, was gone. I went to get in with Fang, but Ranger's hand on my neck guided me to his truck.

When we were on the road I turned to him.

"Any reason I _had _to come with you?"

He thought for a moment then flashed me the wolf grin as he stopped for a red light.

"Yeah, Babe," and he hauled me onto his side of the truck and kissed me.

Hmm, not a bad reason, I thought as I kissed him back. For once there were no emotional entanglements. Whoa, scary. Ranger had his hands under my shirt when the guy behind us laid on the horn.

"Fuck," Ranger said and jammed the truck into drive and took off. I was still lying on top of him, my legs straddling one of his, trying to regain my breath.

"You want to go see Morelli?" he asked.

I shook my head. Joe was still a friend.

We turned into the parking lot of the hospital and Ranger expertly lead me through the maze until we got to room 302. He stopped outside the door and gestured for me to go in. I nodded and he stalked off to a nearby waiting room, picking up the Wall street Journal on the way. Probably checking on the bat stocks.

I pushed the door opened and revealed a worn torn Morelli. He was staring out the window, but turned his glance on me when the door creaked.

"Hey Cupcake," he said and gave me a short smile. He looked sad and I knew why. He had lost a few friends in that disaster and he wasn't happy about it. Whatever his moral standards were, Morelli is a good cop, always has been, and he doesn't like to see any man killed over a fruitless war.

"Hey, how're you feeling?"

He shrugged. "I'm living."

I nodded. "You need to get better so you can get back to eating foods that'll clog your arteries." I said, eyeing the tray of 'food' the hospital provided.

"Yeah really. That shit's gonna kill me."

I smiled. Just then his mother entered the room followed by Grandma Bella.

"You there! You get away from my favorite grandson you little whore!"

"Grandma!" Joe yelled.

"Stephanie I think you should go," Mrs. Morelli said.

I looked back to Joe. "Get better."

"Thanks, Cupcake, and sorry about this," he said gesturing to his family.

I shrugged. "Not my problem anymore."

He nodded.

Ranger was standing right outside the door when I walked out.

"Everything okay?" I nodded and started down the stairs. "You said you had new info?"

Ranger nodded. "Looks like there's a new player in town." Oh boy.

I stared at the screen. Nothing was happening so I glanced at ranger.

"watch." He said

I turned back to the screen. Two guards came into view holding what looked to be some kind of machine gun. They were standing by the truck although I couldn't see much since it was night. I squinted and thought I saw movement at the bottom corner of the screen.

"was that.." I started, but all of the sudden both the guards were down. I felt my jaw drop. They were definitely dead. "how'd that happen?" I asked ranger. But before I could get a response a new group of goons stumbled onto the scene. I watched the shock on their faces and the sense of alarm travel throughout the guards. Then, out of the shadows, a figure appeared. He advanced on the clueless goons, holding what appeared to be some kinda sword.

"holy shit those guys don't even see him." I muttered.

With lightning speed the sword glinted and slashed through the air. A guard gurgled his last and the others turned, aiming about six guns at him.

"fucking amazing." I heard Tank utter. I would have turned to look at him cause he never speaks, but I couldn't tear my gaze away from the scene in front of me. Everything was moving in slow motion. The two guards nearest to him spun trying to level their guns at him, but the figure knocked the guns out of the way with super-speed movement and slashed both of them at the throat with his sleek sword. He then elbowed one guard in the face, then in the same movement, up-ended him with a sweeping kick that had the ground on the ground in a heap. Rolling across the ground the figure slashed out at the guards' ankles while remaining out of shooting range. I heard screams of pain as one guard fell to the ground clutching the back of his leg.

"Achilles tendon." I heard bobby mutter. As if an executioner, the mysterious figure rose up behind the kneeling guard, and with one quick slash, cut his throat. The other guard on the floor turned to get up, but the figure whirled in a single motion. The sword glinted and the guard crumpled to the floor, very much dead. I gulped. All the while gunfire was being unleased and I thought for sure this mystery guy was done for, but then I realized that not all the gun-fire was from the machine guns.

"what's happening?" I asked, but no one answered. Then in a squint of light, I saw the figure had a gun in each hand, effectively shooting at all the remaining guards. One by one I watched them go down. There was so much yelling and gunfire that I hadn't even noticed when the figure suddenly jerked and wheeled backwards. He must have gotten shot, I thought. One of his guns dropped to ground and he disappeared once again into the shadows.

"how does he do that?" lester asked himself.

I wondered the same thing. There was silence. There were two goons remaining and they seemed about to wet their pants in fright. They hastily reloaded their guns and looked around frantically. There was a noise and both guards turned, shooting off a couple rounds out of scared instinct. During this, I watched in awe as the figure came back onto the screen behind the guards. He was right on top of the gurads when they both reeled around. The figure surged forward. I heard something crack, a blood-curdling scream, and then two slashes. I was so stunned I didn't speak. I watched as the figure just stood there, surrounded by dead guards. He reached over his head and placed his sword back.

"a sheath between the shoulders… brilliant" said bobby.

Then the figure glanced up, as if caught on candid camera. I could see him smile in the darkness. He said something then pulled out a gun from nowhere. I heard a single shot and then the screen went fuzzy.

I leaned back in my chair. I was replaying the scene in my head. Wow.

"what did he say?" I asked in almost a whisper. After a minute, bobby turned from the screen and said,

"we think he said, 'hope ya enjoyed the show'."

I thought about it for a minute. Wow.

"who was that guy?" I said incredulously. the guys looked from one to the other.

"we aren't sure babe." Ranger replied.

"he's not one of yours?"

"no."

"but, I mean, how did he.." I stuttered lamely. than tank turned to ranger.

"you don't think it was dante do you?" he asked. Ranger shook his head. i was getting tired of not knowing things so I piped up, "who the hell is dante?"

"no one you need to know babe." I glared at him but his gaze remained serious. I sighed.

"what do we know?"

"he's a fucking genius that's what… I have never seen a person move like that before." Exclaimed lester. I raised an eyebrow at him, stunned at his reaction, but he just kept shaking his head.

"babe, this guy is dangerous." I snorted and thought well, duh! Ranger gave me a stern look.

"you're gonna have to stay close, real close." I winced.

"what does 'close' mean?"

ranger just looked at me. I sighed. I really didn't want to fight right now. "so when should I go pack?" I said resignedly. Ranger looked relieved.

"tank and I will get your stuff from your apartment. You can stay here."

"no way!" I said angrily,"at least let me pack MY stuff!" I stood up with my hands on my hips, giving ranger my best burg glare. He didn't look like he was gonna budge. Humph.

"please?" I said, dropping the glare and pouting the only way a jersey girl can. He rubbed his forehead.

"fine." With that he got up and gestured for me to come with him. I looked back once more at the now static screen and shivered. Then I headed out the door.

The drive to the apartment was silent except for Fang's incessant finger drumming from the backseat. Every five seconds I saw Ranger glance in the rearview mirror with a perturbed glance. It was fun. We pulled into the driveway and Ranger glided into the parking space near the dumpster.

"I'll just be a second," I said and ran to the door and trampled up the stairs (the damn elevator was broken) to my apartment.

I unlocked my door, grabbed an overnight bag from the closet and went to the bathroom to grab all the essentials. I guess I'd be staying longer than expected and I needed to stock up on supplies. I grabbed a couple grapes from the fridge as I passed and gave one to Rex. He picked it up, looked at me for a whole five seconds with his little black eyes, gave a butt wiggle, and crawled back into his makeshift home. Ah, the joys of parenthood.

I zipped up the bag and headed out to the living room when a sight made me stop dead in my tracks.

Blonde hair, blues eyes, big gun. What a combo.

"You have something I want. Give it to me."

Well, wasn't he right to the point?

"Uh, well tell me what it is and I'd be happy to get it for you."

The man stood up and loomed over me a good foot or so.

"I'm not playing around Stephanie. Give it to me or die."

I sighed. First a naked guy, then a deadly mystery guy, talk about a trained assassin. I just want to go to bed.

"Who are you?"

The man clicked the safety off the gun.

"I really have no idea what you want."

The man walked toward me, backing me into the back wall.

"You have until three."

I frantically searched for anything I could use as a weapon, but there wasn't anything within reach, not that I could get it before he killed me anyway, but I felt I needed to attempt to save my life.

"One."

I racked my brain for anything that I could have that this man could possibly want.

"Two."

Okay, shit. Shit shit shit. Right, breath. What was the point? In another second your brains are going to be toast. Closed casket for you Missy.

The man opened his mouth again, but nothing came out as he slumped to the floor. I looked over and saw a tiny bullet hole in the window and looked down to see blood trailing down the man's head. I backed into the bathroom, shut and locked the door, and called Ranger.

"Yo."

"Come here now."

There was a disconnect and in two seconds I heard my door being broken down. Footsteps entered the room.

"Holy fuck," I heard Fang say.

"Babe!" Ranger yelled.

I unlocked the door and came out. I tried not to look down, but it was almost impossible to stop myself. I saw the man's cold dead blue eyes staring up at me, the blood slowly moving past his temple and I bolted for the toilet and threw up. I just threw up perfectly good pizza. Damn.

Ranger called the cops then scooped me up off the bathroom floor and took me out into the hall.

"Who killed him?"

"I don't know, Babe, but we'll find out."

I nodded and buried my had in his chest, trying to forget the look on the man's face.

Ranger shifted me on his lap and I tried to zone into denial land where no one was trying to kill me and there wasn't a dead body mere feet from me. It was a happier place. Minutes later I heard the sirens and saw the flashes of the red and blue lights and knew the onslaught was coming. I was the angel of death and everyone in the Burg knew it and made money off it. Frankly, I felt a little jipped seeing as I did all the work and they reaped all the reward.

A pair of boots came into view and I looked up to see Carl Constanza. "Steph, honey, you okay?" he inquired, squatting down to my level and turning his gaze to Ranger. "One upstairs," Ranger said and I mentally cringed. Carl gave me a crooked smile that didn't quite meet his eyes and jogged off with the rest of his team to survey my latest disaster.

"I hate dead people," I said to Ranger before plopping my head back on his chest and waiting for the questions that were soon to come.

It was after midnight before the cops let Ranger, Fang, and I leave. I was exhausted and shook up. They made us go over the story over and over and over until I thought I'd cry.

When they finally said we could go, they didn't have much to go on. No one knew who the blonde guy was and there was no evidence to who shot him. There were no leads. But I honestly didn't care right now. I grabbed Rex and we sped back to RangeMan.

"What's the plan?" Fang asked as we rode the elevator up to the fifth floor.

Ranger's eyes turned hard. For just one moment I was able to tell what he was thinking. Ranger was furious.

"Consider RangeMan locked down."


	3. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

"Let's go, Steph, wake up."

I told myself it was a dream and ignored it. Bulgari, yum. The bed next to me dipped as a body lay down next to me. Hmm, Ranger.

I snuggled closer and rested my back against his front, letting out a content sigh. I placed my head in the crook of his neck and breathed in that freshly showered smell I loved so much.

That's when I heard the laugh. It was deep and rich… and not Ranger.

I opened my eyes and lifted my head to find a shirtless Fang next to me. I quickly moved away.

"I'm not even going to touch that one. Let's go, we have work."

I shot him an evil look and got up.

10:30… guess I did have to get up. Sometimes life was just not fair.

Coffee in hand, I stared at Ranger and his guys. This could not be happening.

"So you're telling me someone thinks I have a computer chip that just so happens to be missing?"

Fang sighed. "Here's the situation. Pay attention. Your skip David Swolinski worked for Hawkins. We didn't know that. He apparently had a computer disk that had all the names of Hawkins' contacts."

I leaned back and closed my eyes.

"That skip just came in this morning. I haven't even gone after him. Explain to me how I could have the disk."

Ranger cut in. "Swolinski was found dead last night. Shoved in a dumpster."

"Let me guess… no disk."

Lester shook his head. "No disk. Swolinski was going to go to the police with the information, so we thought Hawkins' men had taken him out. After your late night visit last night, I'm assuming someone else has it."

"So who killed the guy?"

"The guy who really has the disk," Tank said.

"Well there's always something," I said.

"We'll keep you here and try to get more, but there isn't much we can do."

Ranger leaned back in his chair. "Babe, this is getting complicated. We want to start to move on Marty and Dino."

I nodded. "Okay."

"I called Dino this morning to set up a meeting. We're meeting downtown at four."

I shuffled through my papers until I found the file on Marty.

"Fang has a plan in mind for Marty."

Ranger shoved a packet of papers toward me. I flipped through and skimmed all the high points.

"So this is a meet and greet?"

Ranger almost smiled. "Yeah, Babe."

I sighed. "Who's working with who?"

Lester stood up. "Morelli and I are working surveillance on you and Fang. Tank and Gilman are backup for Ranger."

He handed me over a small mic. "Put it where you can."

"I had your outfit sent up to the apartment, Babe."

I nodded. This was moving fast. And someone new wanted me dead. Joy! Remind me again why I came back to this profession?

I felt pressure on the back of my neck and looked up to see Ranger looming above me. "You'll be fine, Babe." I hoped he was right.

Two hours later Fang and I were getting into a silver Jaguar and speeding off toward Café de Los Reyes. I was gussied up in a black knee-length cocktail dress, with a necklace of cascading diamonds and matching earrings. I had four inch heeled Jimmy Choos with diamond buckles on and my make-up and hair were professionally done. Only the best for his whore. I snorted at the thought.

I saw Morelli and Lester pull out after us in a black nondescript van.

Fang was outfitted in a black Armani suit, black hair loose and wavy, Gucci shades shielding his eyes. We reached the café in a half an hour and were quickly seated with an older man. He was tall and thin, wearing a suit similar to Fang's and a woman similar to me on his arm. Two huge guys all in black flanked him. Now why didn't we think to bring big bad guards? Sigh. Put that on the list for next time. Next time? That is the sad state of my life, when I go making lists on how to handle 'next times' like this.

Fang and the man shook hands. "I am Vince. Marty was unable to make it today."

Ranger had warned me this may happen. Vince was a nobody. His job was to make sure Fang and I were credible before sending us off to see the big kahuna.

"I think Mr. Mancini would be very… mislead… to not go into business with me," Fang started with.

Vince steepled his fingers across the table and leaned in, his black eyes sparkling.

"And why, may I ask, is that?"

Fang smiled a feral smile just as a blonde waitress came and placed a plate of crab cakes and lemon water on our table. I never understood lemon in water. Yuck.

The waitress lingered longer than was necessary making eyes at Fang who was delightfully checking out her ass as she leaned over the table. She gave him a wink as she flounced away and I'm sure I saw a white slip of paper 'fall' into his lap. Oh please.

"First of all, there's more where that came from," he said and nodded at me and placed his hand high on my bared thigh.

Vince threw his head back and laughed and his arm candy eyed me with contempt.

I heard Morelli and Lester break out in laughter in my ear. "Damn straight," yelled Lester.

"A valid point, please continue," laughed Vince. Fang now had him on the line. A good joke and the man was putty in Fang's hands.

"Secondly…" Fang started as he leaned down to grab his Italian leather briefcase.

He inserted a code and flipped up the locks on the case, revealing a boatload of cash.

"I'm willing to pay quite nicely for Mr. Mancini's services."

Vince leaned back as he chose a crab cake. Fang reached forward and chose one, then leaned into me, pressing a kiss to my jawline.

"Open up," he whispered.

I did as I was told and Fang carefully placed the cake in my mouth and used his index finger to close it. He kissed my neck as I chewed, expertly showing his possession of me.

He finished the show off by kissing me deeply, plunging his hands into my hair and moving his hand higher. Probably now wasn't the time to be thinking about Fang's kissing expertise, but I was. I was thinking how he could go from being gentle with the lightest touch to rough and demanding in two seconds flat. And I was thinking that if he could kiss that well, there were probably other things he could do just as well or better. And that thought made me blush. The blush wasn't lost on Fang. He was smiling like an ass when I finally exited my reverie, as was Vince.

"You have quite the way with women. Perhaps, Mr. Vitale, you have the same way with business."

Fang raised his glass. "Women, my friend, **_are _**business." Vince held up his glass with a chuckle.

"Cheers," he said.

"To a new partnership," amended Fang.

"That it is."

I watched Fang seal the deal with one of the most expensive bouquets in America, before he excused us for a business meeting. Vince kissed me on the cheek and said he looked forward to getting to know me better. Ew, creepy.

Fang helped me get my coat on, then placed his arm around my waist and led me out to the car.

Vince was steps behind us, his big body guards clearing the way, and disappeared into a Lincoln stretch limo with tinted windows.

"Nothing to it," Fang said on a victorious smile as he sped out the driveway.

I debated about two minutes after walking into the apartment on whether or not I should just change and go back to work, or if I could squeeze in a little time for a hot bath. I figured I spent the day with the creepy guy, I get the bath. I turned the music on low, dimmed the lights and enjoyed my half an hour of freedom from the insane.

"Stephanie… tsk tsk tsk, skiving off work."

I opened my eyes to see Fang leaning over the tub. I let out a large yawn and looked at the clock on the wall. Whoops. Apparently my thirty minute bubble bath turned into an hour and some.

"Look who's talking. I don't see you behind a desk."

He grimaced. "I don't do desk work."

That's when I noticed his chest was bare. Nothing but a small silver cross necklace on it.

He was very sculpted, a light dusting of hair, evenly tanned. Your basic dream chest.

"I'm going to give you two minutes to get out of the tub, or I'm getting in with you," he said over his shoulder as he walked out.

Join me. Hmm… I spent a moment visualizing that before realizing I had wasted half my time. I quickly jumped out of the tub, did a lightning speed dry off, pulled the plug on the drain and was just tying the sash on my robe when he walked back in.

He looked at me and shrugged. "Too bad."

I felt another blush coming on, so I quickly ran out the door and straight into Ranger's fully clothed (unfortunately) chest.

"Hi," I squeaked out.

He raised an eyebrow at the running shower and my robed appearance.

"Forget something, Babe?"

Oh dear. What a situation.

"Um, no, Fang's in the shower."

Ranger tensed his stance and I saw his fists clench at his sides.

"No! I fell asleep in the tub and he woke me up!" I quickly tried to explain.

"He woke you up while you were still in the bathtub?"

Ergh. "Yes."

"And helped out to get out safely, I'm to assume?"

"No! He left and I got out and… and I don't have to explain this to you!" I yelled and threw my hands up.

"You're sleeping in my bed, so yes, I think you do," he said and pinned me to the wall with his body.

"I'm _sharing _ a bed with you," I corrected.

"Should you be _sharing _ a bed with him instead?" he growled.

"No! Nothing's going on! Not that you should care anyway! So what if I date someone?"

I shoved Ranger aside and strode to the dresser, getting out fresh clothes to change into. The water shut off and the glass door banged against the ceramic walls.

Ranger glanced back at the bathroom then at me and walked out.

I let out the breath I had been unconsciously holding and placed my forehead against the cool wood.

"Still going to tell me there's nothing going on?" said Fang who was lounging in the doorway, towel around his waist.

I remained silent.

"He wasn't too happy about how I handled our meeting either." He walked over to me. "I've never seen him react this way before. Probably you should figure out why." And he walked out.

Armed with my toothbrush and a change of clothes, I knocked on the solid oak door in front of me. I really had no idea what I was doing. I must be some kind of an idiot to even think about doing something that may, perhaps, tick Ranger off.

It took a few minutes for him to answer, and when he did, he was dressed in red reindeer boxers. How typical.

"Steph?" he groggily asked.

I felt bad about waking him up. He'd been investigating a case for a regular client that ended up having him on an all day stakeout. I'm sure he was dead on his feet.

"Hey. Um, can I stay here tonight?"

His hazel eyes searched mine for any clue of why I wasn't where I was supposed to be. I'm sure everyone and their brother thought I was 'involved' with Ranger. Probably he was weighing the likelihood of him getting shot if he let me stay. I'd say no more that 80 percent… or so.

After a moment he pushed the door open enough so I could slide past him.

"Hope you don't mind the couch," he said as he headed for what I knew to be the hall closet. He pulled out a warm looking blanket and pillow and tossed them over the side of the couch.

"Nice jammies," he said with a smirk.

I looked down at my pink cow pj's and sighed. "Shut up, they're warm. At least I'm not the one wearing half of Santa's posse on my ass."

He came to sit down on the couch.

"What's got you in such a delightful mood?"

Just thinking about Ranger and Fang made me groan and fall back onto the soft Italian leather couch. I'd never really paid attention to his apartment before. I'd been here plenty of times, but I guess I never looked around. The whole place was done up in Earth tones. The tables were geometrical and the furniture was lush. It was stylish in a way that didn't come out and bite you.

"Steph?"

Oh, right. Focus.

"Ranger… Fang…" I mumbled.

He raised an eyebrow at me and started laughing.

"Never knew you were so adventurous."

I smacked him hard on the arm and tried to ignore the images that a statement like that would naturally bring up.

"You can stay here as long as you want," he said, placing his hand on the light switch.

"Thanks, Lester," I said as the room was plunged into darkness.

Chapter 6

You know those times where you want your cell phone to just spontaneously combust because it's ringing at a really inconvenient time? Well six thirty in the morning is definitely one of those times.

" 'Lo?" I grumbled into the receiver, after having eventually turned it upright.

"Where are you?" came Ranger's less than amused voice.

This was _really _not a conversation I wanted to be having at this time of the morning. No coffee, no fries, no donuts, no talking. That's the rule. He's breaking the sacred rule.

"Sleeping," I responded. I could do the one word answer thing early in the morning, too. "Where are you sleeping?"

I sighed.

"What do you need?"

I imagined him taking a few deep, calming breaths before attempting to talk to me again. Sometimes I had that effect on Ranger. There were times where I was entertainment, but the rest of the time I'm sure he wanted to throttle me. Most people do. In fact, I think I have the effect on _everyone._ Generally I'm just a pain in the ass.

"You need to come to RangeMan… now," he said in a measured tone then hung up.

I tossed (well perhaps tossed is a bad word for it. Maybe threw or even threw with enough force to shatter stone would work.) the phone onto the floor. I heard Lester's pager go off in the room and some mumbling that sounded strangely like "damn him," but really I couldn't be sure. Light filled the room as Lester opened his door and I squinted up at him.

"You're still here," he said, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Thought Ranger would come steal me away?" I asked.

"I wore Kevlar to bed."

I'm sure he was joking. Pretty sure.

Since I was already at RangeMan and didn't really want Ranger to know that fact, I let Lester use the shower first and I took an extra long time making myself irresistible to the male species. Er, well, I made myself look not scary.

Lester laughed as he left at the visual of me holding a curling iron to my head and a mascara brush to my face. Never say I can't multitask. I was donning a Terry Gilman style navy suit, four-inch heels and a simple diamond necklace that inched suggestively into my cleavage. I was pretty satisfied, seeing as I never looked cute anymore. I was always covered in one food product or another and, let me tell you, pizza is not a good accessory.

I poured myself a cup of coffee in one of Lester's travel mugs with "I'm on the Naughty List and Proud of It" and took the elevator to the fifth floor, Conference Room A.

Figuring Ranger was about to fly off his rocker about me being so late, I grudgingly pushed open the door to see about eight pairs of eyes staring at me.

"Morning," I said brightly and took the only available leather seat.

Tank slid a folder over to me and I read the short stack of papers inside while everyone continued to stare. It was like being a fish in a fishbowl. Which, of course, is the only thing that would be in a fishbowl. If there were something else in a fishbowl it would be called something else. Like the giraffe bowl or the llama bowl. Or whatever else can go into a bowl. Not that a giraffe or a llama could fit in a bowl. Maybe a really large bowl. But then who would make that bowl? Tupperware? I don't think so.

I heard Tank clear his throat and realized I had been pondering outrageously large whatever bowls instead of reading my handout.

"So Dino and Marty are having a little party, huh?" I said lightly. Terry Gilman rolled her eyes and Lester smiled at me. Ranger just looked at me. He didn't appear to be in such a bright and shiny mood this morning. Wonder why?

"Well this should be fun."

Tank stepped forward, a smirk playing on his face.

"We'll have Manny, Bobby and Zero arrive early with the catering team. They'll set up sound and cameras and act as waiters for the evening. If something goes wrong, they're your back-up."

He passed me, Ranger, Fang, and TERRY??? mics. I eyed her with my superpowers, wishing her to melt like the Wicked Witch. Needless to say it didn't happen. A girl can try.

"Why exactly does she need a mic?" I casually tossed in.

Tank and Lester exchanged glances and Fang rocked back on his heels.

"She's going in with me," Ranger said.

My mouth literally dropped open.

"I'm Ranger's contact. We're old friends."

I'm sure. Slut. And when did she start calling Ranger, Ranger?

Morelli pretended to be busy with some papers, which was probably a good idea since Terry had never really been a strengthening tool in our relationship.

I pulled myself together and decided to leave it be.

"I suggest we break off into our groups to get ready and get security handled."

Ranger nodded tersely.

"Morelli and Les, you're with Steph and Fang. I'll be on Ranger and Terry. Let's keep this clean, everyone."

Three hours later there was a workable plan and I was all dolled up. Vera Wang dress cut in every way possibly to be suggestive and sexy, bordering on classy slut. I was decked out with glistening diamonds and done up with $100 lipstick. I thought I looked damn good.

Fang came out of the bathroom in a black Armani tux. His face had only the lightest hint of stubble and his hair was perfectly gelled in place.

He looked me up and down with a glint in his eye and gave me the wolf grin.

"So there is a female under all that?"

I scowled as he came up behind me. "I saw your mug this morning."

He lightly brushed his hand down my arm until it got the diamond bracelet on my wrist.

"I'm on the naughty list, too."

And he headed down the hall.

I was feeling pretty damn good about myself when I re-entered the conference room, but it all went away as soon as I saw Terry Gilman. Terry fucking Gilman.

She was sporting a black dress made of layers of a very thin fabric so it swirled all around her. The dress wrapped around her neck and crossed over her front, leaving her stomach bare, then fell down to her thighs in the front and to the floor in the back. It was probably the sexiest, best-fitting dress I had ever seen. It probably cost about a million dollars too.

Her golden blonde hair was pulled back in an elegant bun, a red rose pinned on the side.

My glass of self-confidence was just drained.

The worst part was how she was hanging on Ranger. Touching his shoulder and the hair on the back of his neck. I sent her another bout of the death vision, but nothing happened. "If looks could kill," Lester said quietly to me.

Hmph. Ranger stood up at the head of the table.

"Don't mess up."

"Woo haa," Tank muttered. He didn't really sound that convinced.

Fang and I got into the white limo out front while Terry and Ranger loaded into the black one just behind it.

Next to me, Fang pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"So, hotshot, why are you gonna kill the blonde?"

I rolled my eyes. "She's a bitch."

He smiled. "You can't kill people for being bitches."

I crossed my arms over my chest and watched the city fly by. Fang hit the button for the radio and ACDC blared out of the speakers.

Sometime later, I felt the car slow to a stop.

"Party time," Fang said and he put out his second cig and I opened the door and got out.

Fang jogged up behind me and gently grabbed my elbow.

"I lead you, not the other way around."

I slowed my pace a little and let him put his hand on the small of my back.

"And," he said as we approached the backyard. "Remember to be all over me."

I rolled my eyes. "Right," I said.

"You know you like it," he said on a laugh.

To say the Mancini brothers know how to throw a grand party would be an understatement. The whole thing was catered and professionally decorated at a house in the style of a Spanish villa that would take me at least four lifetimes to afford. I recognized big name assassins and members of the mob. Fang and I were presented with shimmering glasses of champagne upon our entrance as I saw Terry and Ranger getting out of their limo and heading up the path.

Probably throwing the caterer's knife at Terry would be bad. I'd probably miss anyway.

"Damian!"

Fang and I turned to see none other than Vince the Nobody walking towards us, Marty Mancini in tow.

Fang and I immediately went into character, him giving Vince a broad smile and me trying to, uh, look slutty?

Fang extended his hand to Vince who took it eagerly. "Vince, my man," Fang said as they clasped.

Vince smiled and clapped him on the back. "My new son," he threw over his shoulder at Marty with a laugh.

Marty smiled like he was still suspicious and I saw his eyes stray to me and look me up and down. Yes, I was a deli counter to be perused as men so wish. Gag me with a spoon.

Vince moved over to me, taking my hand and kissing the palm. "Michelle, beautiful as ever, my darling."

I smiled like a loved it and swallowed the bile that unconsciously moved into my throat.

"Mr. Renacio," Marty said coolly as he shook Fang's hand. "I hear we're going to start a great friendship together."

Fang nodded soberly. "I hope so."

Marty moved over to me. He reached out and touched my diamond necklace, his eyes never leaving mine as he traced the dazzling jewels down the vee of my dress.

"A great partnership is a beautiful thing, Mr. Renacio," he said still looking at me. "It can be mishandled and deformed. We do not want that." He shot a quick glance at Fang then turned back to me.

"I hope you hold your business as dear as you hold this beautiful woman."

Talk about revulsion. It's not that Marty Mancini was an ugly man. He wasn't gorgeous, but he wasn't ugly. He had dark brown hair, bushy eyebrows, but deep emerald green eyes. His face was a bunch of harsh lines, a larger nose and a square jawline. He was average height, a lighter olive complexion, and was very well dressed. Or should I say expensively dressed?

Marty's hand moved from my necklace to my arm, as he ever-so-softly caressed for upper arm.

Fang swooped in (causing Marty to move back) and possessively placed his hand at the small of my back/the top part of my behind. Not an unpleasant experience and not one that went unnoticed, I saw, as Ranger's eyes narrowed at his brother's hand from across the room.

"With an eagle's eye, Fang said politely.

Marty smiled at us both. "I do hope you enjoy the party."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ranger and Terry prepare to meet Dino. Terry flounced in a way that made her assets noticed and her stride confident right over to Dino and planted a kiss on both cheeks.

She introduced Ranger and, as soon as he had shaken Dino's hand, placed his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.

"You're staring. Don't," Fang said quietly and twirled me around and onto the dance floor. The Mancini brothers had a live band playing and white stones set up as a dance floor.

"We need to show off a bit for Marty. He doesn't seem too fond of me."

He pulled me so I was skintight against his body as he started to dance to the slow beat. "Perhaps that is because Vince already trusts you too much," I said before he twirled me around and brought me back.

"No, that isn't it."

We took a few steps together to the right, turned, and moved around the dance floor in quicker, in sync, motions.

"Then why?"

Fang laughed.

"Because of you."

I stopped momentarily to look at him like he was dumb as a rock, so he tugged my hand into a spin, then pulled me up against him as he leaned me back until me hair touched the floor. As he did so, his hands ran down the sides of my body.

I was a little breathless when we started moving again so I just attempted to raise my eyebrow.

"He wants me to share you. I won't."

I gaped at him. What a sick sadistic bastard.

"Exactly," Fang said and he leaned me back as the music ended.

Everyone around us clapped, with the exception of Terry and Ranger who were both looking extremely pissed off.

"Let's go inside," he said and guided me through the gold rimmed French doors on the patio.

I _know _my jaw dropped when I entered the room. The words elegant and beautiful completely left my mind. We entered what looked to be the Mancini entertainment room. A full bar and kitchen, various leather couches, plasma tv, surround sound, pool table, poker table. Men were drinking tequila shots off their dates, women were snorting cocaine.

Fang took off his tux jacket, unbuttoned his shirt and headed toward the bar.

"My kind of party," he said before catching my hand and pulling me along with him.

He reached under the bar and pulled out a bottle of clear liquid I recognized as rum. He poured it into the blender along with various other things and a red sort of slush came out. He looked at it for a moment, then up at me, and with a mischievous grin, poured half the bottle in the blender. Grabbing two glasses and pouring the drink into them, he handed one to me.

"I drink half that and I'll be on my ass."

He shoved it into my hand.

"Good," he said, shouting over the music. "Maybe you'll let me take a shot off you later, then."

I should have found this insulting, but instead I laughed.

I took in the scene around me and wondered what it was like to live like this every day of your life. Drugs, alcohol, public sex (judging by the couple that were currently on the couch) every night. Big houses, important people. Probably I was better off where I was.

Fang and I saw as Dino led Ranger over to the poker table in the corner. They were soon joined by 3 other players and chips were dealt around. Marty came up behind us.

"Mr. Renacio…" he started.

Fang smiled. "Damian, please."

Marty nodded. "Damian then. Do you play poker, Damian?"

Fang looked at the table and rubbed his hands together.

"You have tequila?" he asked.

Marty nodded.

"Great. Crack it open and I'm in."

I mentally rolled my eyes. Drunk poker players. Drunk Fang. Oh dear.

Marty walked off to, I assume, get Fang's request.

"I'm a lousy poker player," he said.

I shook my head. "Then you shouldn't play. Poker is business to these people."

He just laughed. "I'm playing. But how about a little deal?"

I looked at him skeptically.

"I win, I get to take a shot off you. Think of it as motivation."

I sighed. If he really was lousy, it wouldn't matter. Although, if he really is lousy, we have a major problem.

"Fine. Deal. Just do something good."

He smiled brightly. "I'll hold you to it."

And he grabbed me and kissed me hard. He let his hands freely roam my body and groaned into my mouth when I hit the bar and pushed against him.

He finally ended the kiss after some time and looked at my frazzled face.

"A kiss for good luck." And he winked and walked toward the table.

Composure. Right. Straighten your dress and go watch the game. Don't look at Ranger.

But the first thing I did (after straightening my dress, of course) was look at Ranger. He was staring at me, but turned his glance back to the table when I looked up.

Yeah. He was pissed.

I walked over to the table just in time to hear how much Fang was playing with. Ten million. Dollars. Ten million George Washington's. Holy shit Batman.

Everyone started with ten mil, pot no lower than ten thousand.

Texas Hold 'Em, deuces wild.

I knew enough about poker from what I learned playing with the guys from the station. I could hold my own, but we never played for more than pizza money.

Ranger came out strong. He won the first three kitties and Terry was bouncing around, showing her enthusiasm. So unlike Terry. Every time he won, she threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips. I wanted to take the blender and smash it over her pretty little head. Fang carted out his cigarettes on the next hand and lit one up, also taking his first shot of tequila.

The looked at his hand as the first card was turned over and folded.

Marty was giving a knowing look to Vince as he won with a straight of hearts.

Ranger looked over at Fang for just a second before focusing back on the game.

And that's when it happened. Fang turned from zero to hero in one hand. He bid up until the end, the final kitty being three point four mil. All players were down except Marty. Fang took a drag on his cigarette and Marty stood up, pacing as he waited for the river card to be turned.

The dealer, a pretty blonde, turned the last card and Fang smiled.

"Gottcha," he said and he flipped over his hand for the table to see. Marty looked impressed as he sat down and watched Fang sort his winnings. It went on like this for the next hour. Either Fang folded or won. There was no in between. Two players were knocked out quickly until it came down to Dino, Marty, Ranger, and Fang. By now Fang was wearing his undershirt, no shoes, no tie, jacket long forgotten. He was drinking a shot every hand he won, but still carefully judging everyone's faces. Dino was kicked out next when Marty won with a royal flush.

He stood by as the final three duked it out.

It wasn't long before Ranger had to throw in the towel. I think this was purposely done because he went from winning one out of every three hands to nothing. Maybe he was trying to show Dino he wasn't any better than him.

Terry consoled him, but my eyes were focused on the game. I realized now that Fang had lied to me about being a horrible poker player and that I fell for it. How could a man like him not be good at poker. He could read people impeccably and just got back from working in Colombia. Poker was a living in that country. That little rat fink!

But at this point, Fang taking a body shot from god knows where was less of an issue than him losing this game. Vince was happy with himself again now that his 'new son' was running the show.

Marty and Fang were both very calculated players. Both gave away no tells and bluffed their asses off so well they could earn gold medals at the Olympics.

At the next hand my heart almost stopped. The cards were dealt, the antes were in. Marty stood up and pushed all his chips into the pot.

"All in," he said at Fang.

I had a really bad feeling about this. I had a feeling that Fang would be in big trouble if he won, perhaps angering Marty into not wanting to do business with him. I also felt like there was something wrong. My spidey sense was tingling, but I couldn't figure out why. Ranger looked over at me and we locked eyes. He must have sensed my apprehension because I saw him give Manny and Zero a small wave. They came over and handed him a drink and he whispered something to them so discreetly I wouldn't have picked it up unless I was specifically looking for it. Brushing the feeling off, I focused back in on the game.

Fang leaned back, his chair on two legs, and looked from his cards to the pile of chips in the center of the table.

He took a moment to stare at Marty before he too stood up and pushed all of his chips to the middle.

"I'm in," he said and they both faced the dealer.

Meanwhile… Back in the Van

"Kiera Knightly," Lester said. Morelli smiled before taking a bite of pizza.

"Yeah, she's hot."

"Hell yeah," Lester yelled. They'd been watching the best night of television of their lives and actually getting along while doing so. Steph was pissing off Ranger who was pissed off my Fang who hates Terry who wants Ranger who hates Marty. And on and on, so on and so forth. It was all entertaining to watch from the outside, not that either one of them would have wanted to go in. Unless they got to make out with Steph, but neither of them said it out loud.

They were watching Fang fuck with Marty at the poker table when the screen went fuzzy.

"You picking up any interference?" Morelli asked.

Lester checked the dials. "No, no I don't know what's happen—"

And the screen completely cut off and was replaced by the latest taping of The Wiggles. Lester slammed his fist into the receiver and began checking hook ups.

"We've lost all visual, Tank," Lester said into his headset.

"So have I, fuck!" Tank's booming voice said.

Now they were in there alone. No one would have any idea if something went wrong. There would be no back-up. And that thought made all of them sick to their stomachs.

Back to the Gang…

Just then, I heard a noise in my ear piece. It sounded like music. I looked to Ranger who nodded and touched his ear. I saw Bobby the waiter glance at Ranger and Manny and Zero look at each other.

The music was getting louder and more pronounced. And that's when I realized what it was and stifled a laugh. "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" was blasting on our lines.

Fang glanced quickly at me, but refocused on the dealer. He looked slightly agitated and kept looking around the room, as did Ranger. A waitress from the bar came over and handed me a little fruity drink with an umbrella in it.

"Courtsey of that man over…" she trailed off. "Well he was over there..."I saw the rest of the players receive a drink as well. Fang and Ranger's were pink. Ha! Marty received a note. He read it quickly and stood up, red in the face and furious.

"Lock it down! I don't want anyone leaving."

He focused his look down on Fang who was sipping his fruity drink with a smile. Marty hastily flipped over his cards and Fang's before fleeing from the room. I looked over at the table to see a pair of two's for Marty and a flush for Fang.

Fang barked out a laugh and turned to me.

"…About that shot." And he gave me the wolf grin as he reached over and grabbed the bottle of tequila.

I have this bad habit of not thinking things through before I agree to them. This was one of those times. I agreed because I thought my ass was grass if I didn't. And know I was paying for it.

Fang slide a look Ranger's way then back to me. Terry watched with mild fascination as Ranger came over.

"Anthony Barrio, I don't believe we've met," he said and crushed Fang's hand in a grip.

"Yeah, one hell of a poker player Tony. If you'll excuse me, my girl Michelle here needs to sit her pretty little ass on this table."

Ranger's eyebrow shot up and I hopped onto the table and lay back. Fang bent down and licked part of my belly before I felt the soft sprinkling of salt in the same place. I shivered at the sensation. I saw Ranger's eyes go dark and stormy and knew Fang was in for it.

The tequila was cool on my skin, but the tongue that licked the salt off my belly and promptly lapped up the tequila was _not._ Not at all. And probably I didn't make matters any better with the moan that escaped my lips as he did so. There was no denying the fact that Fang is a sexy sexy man. And yeah, sure, I was (in some way) attracted to him. That didn't mean I wanted to buy matching robes, exchange vows and grow old together. That didn't even mean I wanted to sleep with him. Not that the thought hadn't entered my brain a time or two. It just meant exactly that. He was attractive and I don't think you'd find too many women who didn't want his tongue somewhere on their body from time to time.

I opened my eyes to see Fang smiling with a piece of lime stuck in his mouth. Ranger/Anthony glared at me then strode off to Terry and pulled her out the door.

"Give me that!" I snapped as I grabbed the tequila out of Fang's hands and took a drink. I grimaced as the liquid slid down my throat.

I saw Fang looking out the window and into the pool house. Marty and Dino were in, what looked to be, a heated argument.

"Let's check it out," Fang said and tugged me out the door.

We crept around the outside of the building and leaned into the shrubs to hear better.

"Threats! All threats! Nothing has happened, let's not worry now."

Marty's loud voice lashed out. "They have the DISK you idiot! This man broke through our security!"

"Let's just take it one step at a time, understand?"

Footsteps sounded right before the door opened. Fang crushed my body to the wall, kissing me, hiking up my dress and wrapping my legs around his body. The leaves rustled and I heard the distinct click of a safety going off a gun.

Fang and I pulled apart and looked at Marty holding a silencer directly level with Fang's head.

"Oh, it's you, Mr. Renacio—"

"Damian," Fang interrupted.

Marty slowly lowered his gun and leered at my exposed thigh and the dress that was partially pushed down, revealing my lacy Victoria's Secret bra.

"Glad to see you are enjoying yourselves," Marty said, "but I'm afraid we'll have to end the party a little early."

"Dino, I was just looking for you!" came Terry's voice. I mentally crossed myself as I saw Ranger come into view. Talk about one compromising situation after another. I can't catch a break!

."I'm terribly sorry Terry. My brother and I were called away on business. I'm afraid we're going to have to leave the party."

Terry pretended to pout. "Alright, but you make sure to call me as soon as you're back in town."

Dino flashed a 'I'm boinking your girl and she's flaunting it right in front of your face' smile to Ranger and kissed Terry chastely on the lips.

Marty and Dino shook Ranger's hands (and to my dismay, Fang's) before heading back into the house to break up the party.

I was starting to get uncomfortable, pushed up against the brick like that and tried to wiggle free. Fang wasn't budging.

"Nice night," he said casually. Ranger sent him a death glare before heading down the path with Terry and getting into the limo.

I placed my hands on my temples.

"I'm confused. I thought you wanted Ranger and I together?"

Fang eased my feet onto the ground and gently pulled my dress back up and into place.

"What makes you think I don't?"

I looked at him like he was stupid.

"The kissing! The tequila! The flirting!" Like, DUH!

He gave me his patented wicked half smile that made women like me have small orgasms on the spot.

"Nothing wrong with having some fun," he said and took my hand. Just as we were about to get inside the limo, the pool house blew up. Fang threw his body over mine to shield me from the debris that was flying everywhere.

A piece of paper was taped near the gate.

'That was a warning.'

"What the _fuck_!" Lester yelled as soon as we had all gotten back into Conference Room A. I was really getting sick of this room to be honest.

Shrugs went around the room. My only response was a yawn. I was dead on my poor painful feet and had lost the mild buzz I had going on at the party.

Ranger shook his head. "When did you guys loose the frequency?"

"Right before the last hand of poker," Morelli piped in.

"At least no one died," I said quietly.

Fang grabbed something from the fax machine and read it. All the color drained from his face.

"Actually…" and he walked along the row of leather seats somberly, the white sheet of paper in his hand.

"I… I'm sorry, man," he said and handed the paper to Lester.

Lester looked at him for a moment before taking the sheet. He looked down at it for a moment before closing his eyes and crumpling the paper up in his fist. He took a long breath before his fist came crashing down on the table and he got up and walked out, the door slamming behind him.

"What happened?" Morelli asked.

"Elena was in the room?" Ranger asked, already seeming to know the answer.

"She was there waiting for him to come back," Fang said curtly.

"Who's Elena?" I asked.

Ranger sighed. "Probably the only woman Lester ever loved."

I was puzzled. "His wife?"

"No," Tank croaked.

"He loved her, but circumstances didn't work out."

I decided the conversation was over and stayed silent. "Maybe we should just all go to bed," Morelli said.

Nothing wrong with that plan to me.

I picked up my purse and headed out the door, just noticing the blood red orchid that was sticking out of my purse. I took it out and looked at it, not remembering it being there before. Touching it gave me a tingly feeling and I didn't even want to go there.

My body didn't have any fight left in it, so I went silently up to the seventh floor. I'm sure Lester wanted to be alone right now. I took a shower and was drying my hair when the door cracked open.

"Back to stay?" Fang asked, casually leaning against the counter next to me.

I shrugged. "Didn't have a place to go."

Fang smiled with enlightenment.

"Ah, stayed with Lester, huh?"

He pulled me into a hug, tucking my head into his neck.

"Ya did good today, kid."

I laughed. "You're drunk."

"Nah!"

He pulled me out into the living room and sat down with a fifth of vodka.

"Now it's time to get drunk."

To be honest, it didn't seem like a bad idea to me. That's why, some three hours later when Ranger came in, I was laughing like a hyena on the living room floor while watching Eurotrip with Fang.

"He's fucking making out with his sister!" Fang yelled at the TV with disgust.

"Gross!" I said and snorted with laughter.

Ranger threw his keys into the sidedish and came over to stand in front of Fang.

"Stand up," he said.

Fang stood up, swaying back and forth as he tried to balance.

"What's up?"

And Ranger punched him. He didn't hold back, he didn't make sure to hit him where it wouldn't hurt. He just reared back and gave him a right hook to the face.

"Ommigod!" I yelled and ran over to him, now sprawled out on the floor, blood oozing out of his nose.

"Let's get a few things straight!" Ranger growled as he crouched down next to Fang.

Fang groaned and rolled over onto his back, rubbing his forehead.

"You couldn't have waited until I was sober?" he grumbled.

Ranger grabbed the front of his green t-shirt and hauled him to his feet.

"When does that ever happen?"

Fang shoved Ranger's hands away and stepped back.

"You're so damn tense all the time, Ric. Loosen up. Maybe that's part of the problem."

They were circling each other now. Ranger looked murderous and Fang just looked mildly agitated.

"Come on, Ric," Fang taunted. "Do it. Hit me."

Ranger lashed out and I saw fist connect with face just before Fang flew onto the couch. I decided giving them space was the best course of action and backed closer to the TV.

"You push your luck, little brother." Ranger said and stepped right. Fang stepped left. "You take risks you don't need to and you treat life like a game."

Ranger lunged forward, but Fang was ready for it. He moved Ranger's body so he plowed into the kitchen counter.

"Sometimes you have to take risks, Ric. Otherwise you don't get what you want."

Their eyes held for a few moments. Ranger had a cut down his left cheek that was bleeding. A small line of blood was trailing down his face as he looked at Fang sharply.

"You're the only one around here who gets what I want," Ranger said before turning around and walking out the door.

I looked at Fang and we locked eyes. "Go," he said and I ran.

The elevator doors were just starting to close when I shoved my arm in, causing the door to re-open.

Ranger glared at me.

"Let's get you cleaned up," I said as I hit the button for the fifth floor.

"I'm fine."

I sighed. "No, Ranger, you aren't."

The elevator doors opened and I pulled him down the hall and into the back room. Basically we kept first aide crap and paper and junk back here. I pulled out antiseptic and cotton balls.

I poured the antiseptic and touched the cotton ball gently to his face. He pulled back and I laughed.

"Oh, come on Mr. Big Bad Army Man."

Then he smiled. It was probably the first time I'd seen him smile in two days and I realized I didn't like him being grumpy. I didn't like not seeing him. I missed the comfy covers and the Bulgari.

I carefully cleaned out the cut and put a liquid band aide on it. I softly blew at the liquid to make sure it sealed and Ranger closed his eyes.

"So," I said, capping the antiseptic and putting it back. "You want to explain what that was all about up there?"

Ranger shook his head. "No."

There was nothing like a good fight to sober you up. Eye roll.

"Why did you just attack him like that?"

"He compromised a mission."

I rolled my eyes again. I was going to get dizzy if he kept making such absurd comments.

"If Lester "compromised a mission", you wouldn't take him out back and beat the shit out of him, you'd dock his pay or suspend him or something."

"Lester isn't my brother," Ranger shot back.

I threw my hands up in the air.  
"What were you guys _really _fighting about?"

Ranger stood up and walked to the door. "Nothing."

I shrugged. I wasn't going to get anything out of him and I knew I wouldn't get anything but sarcasm out of Fang.

"Let's go watch a movie," I said and walked back to the elevator.

Fang wasn't there when we got back, which didn't really surprise me. I poured a cup of coffee and grabbed Speed. Keanu Reeves for me, guns and bombs for Ranger. Great compromise. Ranger was sitting at the far end of the couch, so I plopped down next to him. He looked… I don't know. He just looked not himself. It was a little disconcerting.

As the movie progressed, I pulled down a blanket and snuggled up in it. Ranger never moved. We were barely touching and he never looked my way.

The next morning I woke up because I fell on the floor. Yup. I fell asleep on the couch and I fell onto the floor. My arms flailed and I hit something, my hair was a mess, and my neck hurt because I slept on a very awkward angle.

A loud bout of laughter made me stop and turn toward the recliner where Fang was lounging, laughing his ass off at my misfortune.

Instead of granting him a verbal response, I graced him with the presence of my middle finger up in the air. I was a very civilized human being.

"Did you sleep there?" I asked, just now noticing the blanket draped around his waist. He was bare-chested (aw damn) and his hair was all mussed.

"Yup," he said as he yawned.

I looked at the couch then the floor and decided getting up to go back on the couch was just not worth it, so I reached up and grabbed the pillow and laid down on the floor. Call me lazy.

Another Fang chuckle. At my expense, mind you.

Just then the door to the bedroom opened and Ranger came out. He didn't say anything to either one of us, didn't acknowledge us, just grabbed a few papers off the table and walked out the door.

I groaned and fell back onto the floor.

"He's so difficult," I practically yelled.

"He can be a little… stiff sometimes," Fang said before lighting a cigarette.

I got up and walked over to him, promptly pulling the cancer stick out of his mouth and putting it out in the ashtray.

"Outside," I said and pointed toward the door.

And I stalked off to take a shower.

Warm water and yummy smelling Bulgari was, for once, not the answer to my problems. It made me think of Ranger and that just got me frustrated. The problem with me is that I'm stubborn. I don't budge when I have an opinion and I rarely ever admit to being wrong. The problem is, so is Ranger. Neither one of us will admit to being wrong about anything. Sure, I kissed his brother. A lot. But it's not like we were together or anything. It was for a mission. He should understand that.

So now we were at an impasse. Both of us wrong on different accounts, neither one of us willing to admit it.

Just then the glass of the shower opned and Fang peered in with a wolf grin. I shrieked like a little girl and made a move to cover myself.

"Just wanted to let you know there's a meeting in ten."

I stood there, dumbstruck.

"Uh, thanks! But you could have told me that from OUTSIDE the stall!!"

He chuckled. "This was so much more fun," he said, taking one last look before closing the door and walking out.

The nerve of some people!

I showered and dressed quickly, opting for a stretchy black top and the skintight workout pants I had once used to piss Morelli off.

I ran all the way to Conference Room A and was still ten minutes late for the meeting. Everyone was staring at the door when I came running in, hair all awry.

"What?" I said, stopping midway through opening the door, deer in headlights look on my face.

"That's nine minutes fifty-three seconds late," Tank said, looking at the black military synchronized watch on his wrist.

It was a couple seconds before most of the guys at the table reached into their back pockets and extracted their wallets.

I saw money fly around the table and exchange hands so many times I lost count.

Fang leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk, sorting through the large stack of twenty dollar bills in front of him.

I made sure to bump into him as I made my way to my seat.

"Now that we're all finally here…" Ranger said coolly.

I felt like mocking him, but figured he'd see and get slightly ticked so I kept my smartass comments to myself. I believe the correct term for that is self growth.

Morelli stood up and walked toward the screen at the front of the room. "We took a look at the surveillance from the party at the Mancini's."

We watched the night progress a little faster than it actually did and looked for anything suspicious. Nothing popped up until the poker game. Then a man dressed in a black suit, black fedora hat, walked into the room. The angle of the hat prevented the camera from picking up his face. He walked over to the bar, talked to the waitress (hand covering most of his face, of course) and got a drink. Scotch on the rocks from the looks of it. Then, just before the cameras went out, he lifted his drink in a toast directly at the camera. His face wasn't at all visible.

I noticed there was one empty chair and realized Lester wasn't in the room. It was also eerily quiet. Not liking Lester being gone at all.

"We checked everything. We double checked everything. How this guy one, knew we were there and two, knew how to disable our signal without us knowing…. I just have no idea." As he said this, he kicked Lester's empty chair and sent it flying across the room. One thing you can always admire about Morelli is that he does his job and he does it right. Things going wrong just piss him off.

"Who _is _this guy?" Bobby asked.

We all stared at the screen.

I decided after the meeting to grab a sandwich in Ranger's apartment. Fang and Morelli were in a deep discussion about the best spywear software when I left them downstairs. They were trying to beef up the system and come up with another opt to implant the new devices. When it came to technology, I was a clown. I was a bumbling idiot. I knew nothing about computers at all before I worked at RangeMan and I really don't know much outside the system we have. So I just let the boys talk while I go eat.

I was halfway through my peanut butter and jelly sandwich when the hairs on the back of neck prickled. I grabbed the knife beside the microwave and turned around.

"Hmm, what have we here?" asked the moderately amused voice.

The man was tall and lean, but it was all muscle. His black hair was a little past his shoulders and wavy. He was lightly bronzed in tone, which brought out his striking hazel eyes.

The key here was to not panic. Yeah, right.

"My, my, my… what is such a pretty little thing like you doing _here_?"

So much for Ranger's amazing security system.

"Who are you?"

The man smiled.

"Stephanie Plum. Incompetent, frail, untrained." The smile continued to play on his lips.

"Yet now that I see you, I know why he keeps you on the payroll."

That got me. I didn't really think about the fact that the man could kill me with the slightest movement, I just got pissed.

"I don't know who you think you are, but _EXCUSE _me?" I yelled.

"I am not frail! Or incompetent! Or FRAIL!"

At that, the front door clicked open and Ranger strode in.

"What are you doing up here?" Ranger asked calmly. I couldn't believe he didn't have his gun to this guy's head!!

"Just getting to know your girl."

"Don't."

Dante smiled again and made eye contact with me. He held my gaze like he was trying to see all of my secrets. I turned away with a blush because my secrets right now were not fit for him to see. He turned away from me and to Ranger.

And then the two men embraced each other in a manly hug. The whole shake hands the lean in deal.

I was still standing against the counter looking, I'm sure, utterly confused.

Then the man turned to me, reached out and took my hand, and kissed it.

We made eye contact for about thirty seconds before he turned and strode from the room.

I turned to Ranger for an explanation.

"Dante."

I gaped. "_That _was Dante? Like the assassin Dante?"

Ranger nodded. "We brought him in to help out with our mystery killer."

It made sense. Doesn't mean it wasn't scary as hell.

Ranger moved toward the cupboard and reached around me to grab a glass.

"Don't try to get too close to Dante." No problem!

"So he's gonna be staying here...?"

Ranger shook his head. "He'll stay at his place. Doesn't trust RangeMan security." He smiled at that.

Obviously Dante proved Ranger's security wasn't all that amazing.

"I'm going to Vinnie's. I need some social contact," I said.

"Have your cell on and available," Ranger said to my retreating back. "And take this," he said, throwing me keys to the Porche Turbo.

I caught the keys and looked at him.

"Tracker," he said simply before heading into the kitchen.

Connie was adding yet another layer of mascara when I flew through the door of the Bail Bonds office, donuts and coffee in hand.

"Giiiirl!" Lula said before plowing me over with a hug.

She made sure the donuts were okay, of course, but I was definitely a pile of crushed bones.

"We haven't seen you in forever, Steph," Connie said, finally putting down her mirror and looking at me.

"It's been busy," I said. I was actually really happy to see them. It had been a while. I actually missed the disgusting couch and the files stacked everywhere.

"So what have you been up to, white girl?" asked Lula.

I shrugged. "Work."

Lula narrowed her eyes at me.

"Work, puh! You've been living with all those hot men around you and you want to tell me nothing's going on?"

I looked her straight in the eye.

"Nothing is going on."

She looked a little crestfallen, so I conceded.

"Not much," I amended and then began telling her the measly bits of RangeMan hottie drama that I had.

Two hours later we were out of donuts and I was feeling guilty about not being at work. I'd heard stories of Lula chasing after criminals and having worse luck than I had and heard about all the latest mob scores that needed to be settled.

It was practically on cue when the door opened and Ranger, Fang, Dante, and Lester walked through.

I heard Lula run into the filing cabinet, but I didn't look because I was a tad preoccupied.

Them walking in together was better than my fantasies. Now Dante still scared the crap out of me, but there was something about him, lying just under the surface, that made me trust him. In an odd sort of way.

Yeah, I need a CAT scan, I know.

I sighed. "If it involves a dress I need to go home first," was my greeting to the boys.

They all smiled, except for Lester. He just looked beat. The usually perfectly polished smartass was looking a little downtrodden.

I couldn't resist; I walked over to him and gave him a hug.

He held onto me for a long time, us just letting the tension flow out for a moment. Sometimes that's all you needed. A moment to just let life take you and pull you into the flow. For Lester, letting go would probably be the hardest part.

"Thanks," he whispered in my ear as I pulled away.

I walked back over to the couch and sat down, patting the seat next to me as invitation that we should sit while they break the bad news.

"What? No hug for me?" Fang asked before coming over and plopping down on my right. Lester took the seat to my left Dante and Ranger stood in front of us, arms crossed.

Connie and Lula were immobile, drooling.

"Morelli and I are working on a new security system. Whenever that's ready, we need to go back in to plant it," Fang said.

I nodded. "Okay, what about Dino?"

"Gilman and I will be seeing him tomorrow evening. We've been invited for dinner."

The thought of Terry and Ranger having dinner together made me want to throw up the three donuts I'd scarfed down earlier. Best not to think about it.

"Alright. Now the part you aren't telling me," I said, narrowing my eyes at Ranger.

He slid a glance to Dante and then back at me.

"We're going to try and attract the attention of the killer."

"Okay…" I knew I had something to do with this. Nothing is that simple with my life.

"Somehow you have a connection," Dante said simply.

"We don't know how he knows you or why he saved your life, we just know he did," Lester said.

I stared. "You want to use me as bait?!? For this guy?"

Dante gave me the smile. "I have a few ideas why he wanted to save her."

Lester shot him a sour look.

"So how exactly am I supposed to attract the attention of this guy?"

"Just be you, Babe. He's already coming to you." Ranger didn't seem particularly happy about that fact.

I threw my hands up. "And what exactly do I do once I get his attention?"

So yeah, I was getting a little hysterical. But I was dealing with a lot. First of all, Marty Mancini is crazy. Secondly, I belong to Fang, which is just a headache all in itself. One that I rather like pushing out of my mind. And now I am supposed to attract a killer that no one knows anything about and spend my free time with an assassin!!!

Is no one else getting the gravity of this situation?

Ranger came over and pushed my head between my legs.

"Breathe," he commanded.

"Easy for you to say," I mumbled.

All the while, I don't think Connie and Lula had moved an inch. They were looking concerned, but I saw Lula crane her neck to check out Ranger's ass. Not that I blame her too much.

"Dante's going to be with you. He'll take care of it. You just need to get him out in the open."

Say what?

"Dante's going to be WHAT?" Lester asked, standing up and facing Ranger.

"Dante's going to be with Stephanie. At all times."

Lester opened his mouth to argue, but Ranger stopped him with a look.

"Later," he said.

With that, I said good-bye to the girls and headed out to the car.

Attached to the rearview mirror of the Porsche was another blood red orchid.

A slip of paper was fastened to the stem.

'And so it begins, insert nickname here' the note read.

A hand reached out and took the flower from me. I looked next to me to find Dante in the passenger seat. I didn't even notice him get in.

He read the note and gave a small smile. "Fast work," he commented.

I gulped. "That was from him?"

Dante nodded.

I blew out a sigh and pulled the Turbo away from the curb and into the flow of traffic.

It wasn't long before I had the car parked in the RangeMan garage and Dante and I were riding the elevator. I pushed the button for seven and Dante made no move to hit a different one.

He had a single black duffle bag in his left hand and his right lingered at his side, directly above where I saw the handle of a knife.

The elevator doors pinged open and I walked out and used the key fob to enter Ranger's apartment, Dante right behind.

Fang and Ranger were already there, lounging on the couch, staring at the TV. It was probably the only time I'd ever seen them act alike.

I felt a hand at the small of my back push me forward and I realized I had been staring. Dante dropped his bag near the couch and sat down in the only other chair.

"Wait. You're not staying here, are you?" I asked Dante.

"Of course," he said, once again fixing his eyes on me. That led me to think about sleeping. Sleeping led me to thinking about the fact that Ranger's apartment only had one bed. Four people, one bed. The math really didn't add up. I didn't know what the hell to do… the three of them and me.

I stood there, in between the couch and chair, and just looked at the group that was seated before me. Ranger and Fang were still lying on the couch while Dante was sitting upright in the chair. I was definitely flustered. I didn't know how this was going to go. It was bad enough with just Ranger and Fang, but to add Dante to the mix was like adding vinegar to baking soda. It was chemically designed to blow up. Story of my life.

I snapped back to reality to see Dante staring at me again. He seems to do that a lot.

"So who's bunking with whom?" I asked nonchalantly.

Fang looked at me and laughed. "Always the funny one," he said and got up to tousle my hair.

"This is awkward," I said and went out the door and down the elevator.

I knocked on Lester's door and he answered with a glass of Captain Morgan in his hand.

"Yum," I said, eyeing the glass. He handed it over as he invited me in. I sat down on the couch as he went to make himself another drink.

"You look about as happy as I feel," he said as he added ice to the amber liquid.

"I'm being forced to live in an apartment with Ranger, Fang, and Dante," I sighed. Lester shot me a look.

"You'd think that'd be good, right? Three hot guys, me. Nothing wrong with that. But it's just awkward. And a lot to deal with."

Lester sat down next to me and took a drink.

"I'll be honest," he started. "I don't trust Dante. Not as a person. Not working for RangeMan. Not protecting you." He paused for another drink.

"You know he's an assassin. He kills people. He doesn't have any allies. He doesn't trust anyone. Why should I trust him?"

I thought about it as I finished off my drink.

"Because Ranger does," I said. "Not that he doesn't scare the shit out of me, but I should trust him. I just don't like being around all of them together. Sort of a war of the testosterone."

Lester seemed to find that funny.

"How are you doing?" I asked it quietly.

He got up and brought the bottle over, tipping it back and taking a long drink.

"Ah, that good, huh?"

He simply nodded and hung his head, bottle in one hand.

"Just wrapping my head around it. She… she meant a lot."

A few moments of silence stretched out between us.

"But I guess that's the risks of the job," he said and leaned back.

Yeah, I thought, the risks of the job. And now I had a killer attracted to me. Life was looking up already. We sat in silence and watched a movie the rest of the night, forgetting everything that was happening in the real world.

By the time I was shook awake, the credits were rolling on the movie.

"You should be getting back upstairs, much as I hate it," Lester said quietly.

I sat up and wiped the sleep from my eyes, just in time to see Lester's door open to reveal Dante standing in the doorway.

Without a word, Dante strode over to where I was sitting.

"Come on Stephanie," Dante said.

Lester stood up and put himself in between me and Dante. "She'll go when she's ready."

"Santos, save it."

"I suggest you go back upstairs. Steph will join you when she's ready."

Dante looked past Lester and straight into my eyes. The problem with that is it makes me want to do whatever the hell he asks. He makes me trust him with those eyes.

I stood up and put a hand on Lester's shoulder.

"It's okay, Les, I'm tired anyway."

He didn't look too happy about me siding with Dante.

"Be safe," he said and kissed me quickly on the lips before giving a cold, hard death glare to Dante.

I walked all the way over to the door before I realized Dante wasn't following behind. It was really hard to tell when he was following and when he wasn't, he was so swift. It was kinda creepy really.

But anyway, Lester had put a hand to Dante's chest. Dante stared down at the hand and I saw his left hand move to that bulge in his shirt.

"I _will _kill you," Lester said to him.

Dante just smiled, grabbed his wrist, and pulled it off him. I saw Lester grimace and I knew Dante was hurting him.

"And I will kill you if you _ever_ touch me like that again. Understand?"

The two men glared at each other, neither one moving.

"Oh for God's sake," I said, coming over and grabbing Dante's hand and tugging him out the door.

We walked into the elevator in silence. Soon after it started moving, I pulled the stop button.

Dante remained silent but arched an eyebrow at me.

I rounded on him. "One, you don't tell me when and where to be. Two, you don't attack Lester. Three, you don't threaten my friends. Is this understood?"

He still was silent, but did the whole eye stare thing, then hit the button again.

I grabbed it and pulled, once again stopping the elevator.

"Are we clear?" I asked again, getting all up in his face.

His face went from clear to cloudy and he stepped closer, putting his mouth directly against my ear.

"You realize I kill people for a living," he stated, his warm breath blowing right in my ear, causing me to shiver.

"You realize that you just threatened me?"

I took a strangled gulp.

"Yup," I said weakly.

He slowly walked toward me until I was pressed against the back of the elevator.

"Do I frighten you, Stephanie?" he asked.

I couldn't move. He was so close to me, crowding my space with his presence. His black tee showed off his defined shoulders and his wavy hair lightly brushed my neck.

A leather band was around his neck, a small jade figure hanging from it. I reached out and touched it.

I heard his breath slow and he looked down into my eyes.

"It's from Antigua."

That wasn't what I expected.

"Huh?"

"The jade comes from Antigua. Supposedly it's good luck if you rub it."

The stone matched his eyes almost perfectly. I noticed he had day old stubble on his face that made him seem even more rugged. The air around us stilled as I looked into his eyes.

"I suppose this would be you getting too close to me, wouldn't it?" he asked with a smile. He had brilliantly white teeth that were perfectly straight. An assassin with good oral hygiene… interesting.

He reached around me and pressed the stop button again so the elevator started moving again, but made no move to stop interfering in my space. The doors opened to reveal Ranger and Fang standing there, guns drawn. It took them a moment to realize it was only Dante and I and re-holster their weapons.

Dante leaned even closer and brushed my jawline with his lips as he spoke. "We're clear," he said and walked out and past Ranger and Fang.

I blew out a sigh and pushed by Ranger and Fang and into the apartment.

"Where are we sleeping?" I asked as soon as everyone was in the living room.

"You and I are taking the bed, Fang the couch, Dante the chair."

Dante pulled his shirt up over his head and I felt my jaw drop and my mouth go dry.

When I realized I was staring, I groaned at myself and stalked off into the bedroom. Ranger was already down to his boxers, lying on top of the sheets on his side.

I grabbed a pair of little shorts and a knit top and changed in the bathroom.

I was under the covers for probably a total of fifteen seconds before Ranger asked the question I'd been expecting.

"What happened in the elevator?"

I sighed. "Dante and Lester had a small… disagreement. I was just warning Dante not to be mean to Les."

Ranger smiled at that. "Bet that went well."

I shrugged. "Could have been worse."

He leaned over me and suddenly his lips were on mine. I had to admit I'd missed the stolen kisses quite a bit. Ranger's hands fisted my hair and his kiss became more intense, his tongue mixing up the action. He rolled us over so I was on top of him and I moaned into his mouth.

"If you two are going to fuck, keep it down," Fang yelled from the other room.

Ranger moved his lips to my neck and began nipping at it.

He pulled back and looked at me. "Babe, I'm not joking. Don't get too close to Dante."

"Why?"

"Trust me," he said and kissed me hard again.

"Ricardo, tell me you're almost done," came Dante's drawl from the front room.

I chuckled quietly. "Goodnight Ranger."

"Goodnight Babe," he said and pulled me close as I drifted off into sleep.

"Get up, hotshot," came Fang's voice. I pulled my arm out from under my pillow and gave him a stiff middle finger.

He flung the covers off and I instantly curled into a ball. I heard a groan next to me and opened one eye to find Ranger still next to me. Usually he was gone. Which made me wonder what time it was. I rolled over and looked at the bedside clock. 5am. 5fuckingam.

"Screw you, Fang, there's no way in hell." And I put the pillow back over my head and snuggled up to Ranger for heat. He turned and wrapped his arms around me.

"Well aren't you cute," came Dante's voice from the doorway.

Ranger groaned and got up.

I went out to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee.

"Morning, sunshine," Fang said, grabbing the cup of coffee I had poured for myself and walking away.

Dante walked over and plopped a white bag down in front of me.

I sniffed and smelled the best thing in the world… Boston Creams.

"Someone's got to keep you in sugar."

I gave him a big smile and dug into the bag, all thoughts of coffee completely gone.

I had survived the first night with minimal problems. It could only get better from here… right?

**NOTE: I realized when I started writing this chunk that I was incorporating 12 into this a tad. So, um, screw the title. Plus I like Melvin and kinda want to put him in here really bad. **

"The new security system is done," Morelli started, standing up at the front of the table and facing six tired faces.

"Apparently we have a computer geek in our midst."

Fang scowled at Morelli. Fang wasn't happy about being called a geek.

"We have a business meeting set up for tomorrow evening. Look sexy Steph and flirt with Marty. That's why you've been invited. Pretend you're into him."

I sighed. Sure, why not. Suddenly a possibly deadly situation didn't seem so horrible in comparison to spending an entire day with the boys together.

"Until then we need to bring in Vinnie's skips," Ranger said. "Three teams, meet at the office."

We all looked around at each other, not knowing who to go with. Life was an awkward situation.

Ranger and Tank were already halfway out the door when they noticed no one else was moving. I saw Tank smile but try to hide it and Ranger was doing his almost-smile thing.

"I'll go with Steph," Lester said.

"No, she's mine," Dante said. The thought made me shiver. He was looking at me with those eyes again and I thought about what it would be like to actually be his. Completely his. _Don't get too close to Dante._ Right.

Lester once again took an offensive stance in front of Dante.

"I said I'll go with her."

Dante was thoroughly amused, I could tell.

"Dante and Steph, Lester and Tank, me and Fang," Ranger said shortly.

I smirked and walked out into the hall.

"You have an extreme amount of control over my men, Babe," Ranger whispered as we headed down the hallway and into the garage.

I decided to ignore that comment as I got into the nearest Bronco with Dante.

All three black Broncos pulled up in front of the bail bonds office and parallel parked. I can only imagine what everyone on the street thought. Drug dealer, mob, or FBI. Grab the kids and run inside, Trenton was going to hell in a handbasket.

Dante and I led the troop inside. Once everyone was inside, I fully realized exactly how small the office was.

Connie's penciled eyebrow was up on her forehead as she stared at me.

"You need all them now? Who the hell is after you? I could take care of it, you know."

I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks, but this is for the rat. We're here to make Vinnie happy again. Hand over all the files."

Connie smiled. "Bless you. He's been a real pain in my ass lately. Talking about how you and Ranger left him out in the cold and how Lula is worse than you."

Speaking of Lula…

"Where is she?"

Connie sighed. "Trying to pick up Lennie Carson."

I laughed. "And how long has she been trying to do this?"

Connie glanced at her watch. "Oh, only about four hours or so."

I nodded. "Print another copy out and give us everything."

Fang, Lester and Tank had taken up residence on the flea bitten couch and I swear I saw it sink a few inches when they sat down. Ranger and Dante were leaning up against the wall on both sides of the couch staring at us.

"So who's the new guy?" Connie asked, her voice dropping low. I knew they could all still hear us. All of them had freakishly good hearing.

"Dante. He's helping with an open case."

Connie leaned back as the printer groaned from the workload.

"That's two you've brought in, Steph. Everything okay?"

I nodded. "It's going okay. Long term."

I felt their eyes on me and it made me nervous.

"Well at least they're all hot." I conceded there.

"Amen," I said and we both laughed.

Armed with a heavy stack of files, I started doling them out.

I opened one file to see none other than Manny Goldburg's face staring up at me and laughed.

"Here, Fang, this is all yours. Don't forget the shotgun."

He opened the file and smirked.

"Cruel woman."

We all headed out in our respective cars, but Ranger grabbed me by the arm before I got in.

"Tell me what you forgot," he said.

Purse, lip gloss, hairspray, files.

"Nothing?"

Ranger reached to the small of his back and pulled out a .38, my .38, and shoved it into the waistband of my jeans.

He let his hands linger there as he spoke. "Be careful. Let Dante do his job."

"Kill people?" I interjected with the innocent look on my face.

"Smartass." Yeah, pretty much.

"You can take your hands out of my pants now," I said. The truth was that I didn't really want him to take his hands out of my pants, but if he didn't I knew this great alley I might be tempted to push him into and have my wicked way with him.

He leaned close to my ear. "I could, but what fun is in that?"

I smiled as his lips brushed my ear ever-so-softly.

I saw Dante watching through the side mirror, a scowl set on his face.

Ranger finally took his hands out of my pants before kissing me firmly, but chastely, on the lips and heading back to his Bronco.

Woo, hot flash.

Steve Weriski was probably the wussiest FTA I'd ever met. He was currently standing in front of me and Dante, pissing his pants. No joke. I had done my thing and knocked on the door claiming to be Bob Barker or something of the like and he answered. I told him I lied and that I was here to haul his ass back to the pokey because he was a bad boy. He had a moment where fleeing crossed his mind, you could see it on his face, so Dante dissuaded him from doing that. And, yes, perhaps Dante dissuading someone could be a little… oh, I don't know… intimidating, but really, peeing your pants? I'd had big guns held to my head before and I never peed my pants. But here, alas, was a pisser of epic proportions. He was wearing tan dockers and the darkened spot in the crotch area was steadily growing larger.

I cringed and moved back a couple steps.

Steve looked up a little sheepishly. "I have irritable bowel syndrome."

I swear I saw Dante smile before he cuffed him and dragged him back to the Bronco.

Our next skip was known to live two blocks over, so we were there in no time. Dante got out of the car and came around to my side. I hesitated.

"You're leaving him here alone?"

"Yes."

"And you expect him to be here when you get back?"

"Yes," Dante replied as he grabbed something out of the glove compartment. It was small and black and he used duct tape to fasten it onto the pisser's chest.

"This," Dante said, "is a bomb." Steve's eyes got large.

"If you move within three feet of this truck, it will go off. If I press the trigger, it will go off. Understand?"

Steve frantically shoot his head and I saw the spot in his pants enlarge in diameter a little bit.

He turned to me. "There. No problem." And he closed the door and started up the path.

"Pizza or flowers?" I asked Dante when I joined him at the front door.

"Pizza." And thus started the pizza delivery ploy.

Ron Pidito was wanted for the attempted murder of his ex-fiancé with a twenty inch blade. He was a professional swordsman who did stunt work on films. Great.

Ron Pidito was also, as I found out when he opened the door, a six foot seven huge ass black man with more muscles than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Er…" I was at a loss for words.

"You're in violation of your bond agreement. You need to reschedule," Dante said calmly.

"Fuck you," was Ronny's reply as he slammed the door in our faces.

Well that went well.

Dante just sighed and shook his head. "This is why killing people is much easier," he said and put his boot to the door and kicked it in. Ron was hopping around the living room with one boot on, but looked up when he saw the door crash. Quicker than I thought any man of his size could move, he wrenched a sword off his wall and faced Dante, who, at the same time, had unsheathed the blade he wore on his back.

It was like waiting for the storm to strike as the two glared at each other, their blades mere centimeters from each other.

Ron tapped Dante's blade with his own and ran it up and down the side, apparently trying to intimidate him.

Faster than my eyes could take in, Dante has stepped and lashed and sliced Ron's left arm.

When he reached over instinctively to cover the wound, Dante came at him, knocking the weapon out of his hand and pointing his blade at Ron's throat.

"If you move while she puts the cuffs on you, I will kill you."

Ron remained motionless as I attached the cuffs, then Dante dragged him up and out to the car.

Strapped in and ready to roll, Dante pulled the Bronco away from the curb. We all sat in silence a couple minutes before Steve spoke up.

"Uh, anyone going to take this off?"

I suppose he was talking about the bomb.

Dante glanced at him through the rearview mirror. "No."

Steve gulped.

Two hours after we started, Dante and I pulled back into the bail bonds office and came in with two nice body receipts.

"Amazing!" Connie said. "We'd given up on those because we didn't have time to get to them. Vinnie's gonna go crazy."

I hated doing anything that would make Vinnie happy, but the paycheck was good for me too, so I guess it all worked out.

"Am I splitting this fifty fifty?" she asked.

I said yes as Dante said no.

"Yes," I repeated.

"She can have it."

I looked at the floor. "I'm not a charity case, you know."

He locked eyes with Connie. "Give it all to her." And, under the spell of the eyes, she wrote only one check per body, payable to one Stephanie Plum.

"You did all the work," I mumbled as I sat down on the couch and waited for the rest of the team to show up.

Dante didn't say anything. He was looking out the window, once again leaning against the wall, strong arms crossed over his washboard straight stomach. I remembered what he looked like without a shirt and felt myself go warm.

Sure, he scared the shit out of me, but he was hot. Too damn hot.

I got up and made myself busy pretending to file things. I just needed to do something with my hands before I did something completely stupid and irresponsible. Like go against what Ranger said and get _extremely _close to Dante.

While lost in my thoughts, I never realized he had walked over to where I was 'filing.'

"Forget your alphabet?" he asked with a smirk. Yes.

"No. Just thinking." About jumping your bones.

He gently took the file I was holding out of my hand, found the tab labeled "E" and stuck the file in the appropriate spot.

I could see Connie staring from the corner of my eye.

We were a mere foot apart, the open filing cabinet drawer between us. I visibly swallowed. It seemed like most of the air in the room had disappeared and I was having one hell of a time breathing.

"I make you nervous." It wasn't a question, but I shook my head anyway.

"Good. I should."

I shivered a little bit. His voice was so soft and low. I was incredibly turned on right at the moment and I wasn't quite sure what to do about it. It was pretty damn messed up.

Dante leaned close to my face.

"Do you usually go against what Ric tells you to do?"

I looked at him, a bit thrown off. "What?"

"The six foot rule between you and me."

Oh. Right. "I'm not real good at following the rules." Hmm, perhaps I phrased that wrong.

He moved even closer, his face slightly in my hair as he whispered in my ear.

"Breaking the rules is dangerous, Stephanie."

I was breathing hard now, having a hard time on concentrating on anything. It was crazy. I was petrified of him but ready to rip off his clothes at the same time. This was unnatural.

The door to the office banged shut and I squeaked and jumped back a good three feet.

The rest of the guys were standing there watching us and all of them looked beyond pissed. Uh-oh.

"I just, uh, I need some, uh… I'll be right back." And I flew out the back door of the office and headed straight down the street and didn't stop until I was standing right in front of the beautiful display.

"What'll it be, dear?" the old woman asked.

"A dozen Boston Creams."

You could cut the tension with a knife. No one had said anything since they got back to the bail bonds office. Dante didn't speak on the car ride back to RangeMan and I couldn't tell what he was feeling or if anyone had said anything to him. I was slightly, extremely, embarrassed. I'd been thinking some pretty interesting thoughts about me, Dante and the ragged couch. And I'd been caught red handed.

And now we were all sitting up in Ranger's apartment in total silence. I still had ten donuts left and I was eyeing them on the counter.

"I should get back to work," Lester said and stood up. "Steph?" he asked, eyebrow up as he stared at me, willing me to come with him.

"Uh, you go ahead. I'm going to take a shower first."

More like I was going to see what happened here. Ranger had driven like a maniac all the way back to RangeMan, cutting Dante off at least three times while weaving in and out of traffic.

I went into Ranger's bedroom and pulled out a fresh pair of clothes and it wasn't long before Ranger was in the room as well, door closed behind him.

I turned around to see him staring at me.

"Some days you try my patience," he said and started walking towards me.

"Stay away from Dante, Stephanie." Dante calls me Stephanie.

I decided on a little bending the truth. "We were filing."

His eyes narrowed and he stepped closer until he was right about where Dante was when they walked in.

"A little close for filing," he said icily.

I pulled back. "What do you want me to say? Huh Ranger? That I'm attracted to him? I am. Sure. Look at him. What else do you want?"

I was yelling at Ranger. That was soooo not the smartest thing I'd done all day.

A muscle worked in his jaw and he glared at me before turning around and walking out.

"You, outside," he said to Dante.

Dante got up slowly and followed him out of the apartment. I stared at the closed door. I couldn't catch what was going on at all.

I decided to just take my shower and let them duke it out on their own.

Thirty minutes later I was nice and squeaky clean. I slide the glass door open and grabbed a towel, drying my face before looking up and letting out a shriek.

Fang was leaning against the counter giving me the wolf grin.

"Great job, hotshot," he said.

"With what?" I said as I wrapped the towel around myself as I got out. I was working hard at not being embarrassed.

"Pissing Ranger off. Great job, full marks."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't see what the big fucking deal is."

Fang looked at me like I was dumb. "Putting aside the history with you and my brother, Dante kills people for a living."

"You and Ranger kill people," I said as I grabbed another towel from the cabinet and proceeded to try and dry my hair.

"We kill people who try and kill _us_."

"That makes it all okay? Listen, I appreciate you all trying to tell me how to run my life, but I'm not marrying Dante, I'm talking to him."

The thought of marrying Dante made me want to move to a Third World country and change my name to Frieda.

"You'll get hurt."

"And you don't think I haven't been hurt by people who weren't assassins?"

Fang shook his head and followed me back to the bedroom.

"No. But he can't have a relationship with you. It'd be sex and that's it."

I glared at him. "Yeah, well sex happens. And sometimes sex is where it ends."

Like with Ranger. But I neglected to mention that part. I'd had one night with Ranger and it had been a mistake at the time. We'd had sex, he'd left, it was over. And it hurt like hell. I was sent back to Morelli and then that hadn't worked out. Hell, maybe fucking an assassin would hurt less. At least I'd know what I was getting into. I guess I should have assumed what the results of sleeping with Ranger would be. Great memories and not much else.

The door to the apartment opened and moments later Dante walked into the bedroom.

He looked at Fang and then moved to me, clad only in the towel, and let his eyes scan me from head to foot.

"We have a meeting," he said and walked out.

Of course we did. Fang left and I got dressed, opting to not think about the state of my life right now. Better to focus on attracting the superkiller.

"You want me to do what!!"

Ranger looked at me from across the long oak table.

"Go after Adrian Miller."

I looked at him with wide eyes. "And what happens if our mystery hero decides I'm not worth it?"

"I'll be there," Dante said. He was quiet, leaning against the door.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh that's comforting!" Sarcastic, me? Naaah.

"Let's go."

"NOW?!?"

Ranger nodded.

"Sooner the better, Steph. We'll get this guy before he comes after us," Lester threw in.

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather not let it get to the point where this guy comes after one of us."

No, that would be bad. But why meeeeee??

I sighed and pulled away from the table and went upstairs to change. Full slut mode, here I come.

I couldn't believe I was doing this. I couldn't believe I was wearing this. I couldn't believe this was all happening. Maybe my mother was right. Maybe I should try the hygienic products plant. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

I had originally come out of the bedroom in a short blue summerdress. Ranger had taken one look at it and shook his head before giving me a small box.

And now I was parading around Stark Street in this. This being a tight as hell leather skirt that barely covered my ass and a just as tight leather top that tied in the back and left most of my middle bare.

I looked like a whore. A low class whore.

I checked the piece of paper I was holding. 378 Winslow. Okay, here goes nothing. I stood on the corner across from the entrance of the building and tried to look sexy.

"I'm not the right kind of sexy for this job," I said into the mic that was hidden in my cleavage. We were hoping I would be saved before Adrian found the mic. Fingers crossed.

"Not from where I'm standing," Fang replied. I heard an "oof" and I was pretty sure someone hit him. Not quite sure who.

"Here we go, Steph."

I looked up and saw Adrian exit the building and walk down the stairs. He was a lean Italian man, with an uncanny resemblance to Adrian Brody. Ha.

"I'm right here, Stephanie. Relax."

Hearing Dante's voice made me think of him. I could imagine him telling me to relax and trust him. I took a deep breath and started strutting around my corner.

Adrian walked down the street a ways to a blue Jaguar convertible. He got in, started the engine and sped off right past me. "Damn," Lester said.

There was a squeal of tires and the blue Jaguar came shooting backwards.

"Hey there, Baby," he said as he pulled up.

I sauntered over to his car, working my extra done up hair and putting some swing in my step.

I placed my elbows on his door and leaned forward, pushing my boobs out and my ass up.

"Hey. You lookin for a good time?"

Adrian pulled his sunglasses down so he could look at me over them.

"Only if it's with you." Smooooth.

I grabbed the handle of his car and pulled.

"Step into my office," I said.

He cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Here?"

I leaned down right by his ear, letting my lips hit his ear as I spoke.

"I like to take chances… don't you?" And I stepped into a side alley and prayed to God. I'd give up the donuts and the men. Okay, I'd cut back on the donuts and give up on the men. Well, I'd cut back on the donuts. Just let me live.

"Trust me," Dante said in my ear. Ranger told me not to trust him. Lester didn't trust him, but I was supposed to. Oh man. I was very close to hyperventilating.

About thirty seconds passed before Adrian appeared in the alley with me.

He was on me in a second, kissing my lips and pushing me against the wall of the building behind me. His hands roamed down my body and I felt a shiver of fear go through me that he mistook for pleasure.

"You like that?"

I mumbled a moan-esque reply.

"Yeah? What about this, bitch?" And he shoved me up against the wall and planted himself right between my legs, forcing them apart.

His left hand came up and pinned my arms above my head and I was starting to freak out.

He was biting my neck hard and shoving my skirt up. I wanted out now. I didn't know what to do. I tried pushing him away but only managed to get one arm free.

"Oh, you want it rough? I'll give it to ya, bitch."

He grabbed me and threw me against the other wall. I hit it and pain exploded in my head as I slid to the floor, scraping my back the whole way down.

Where was this guy?!? It was sad when you wanted a mysterious killer to show up. I really needed to rethink my life.

He stood above me and pushed me down on the ground, reaching for his zipper as he lowered himself down on me.

I was about to lose it and start screaming my full head off when Adrian was lifted off me. There was a small squeak and he slumped to the ground.

"Come on, Stephanie." Dante.

He lifted me up and helped me straighten my clothes. He pushed my hair out of my face and wiped at a cut I had on my right cheek. I was about two seconds away from bawling.

I looked down at Adrian and I knew he was dead. His eyes were still open and he was sprawled out at an odd angle. Dante put his hand on my cheek and guided my face to look into his.

Dante pulled me close and I let my tears fall. I cried for about three minutes before I stepped back. Dante handed me a tissue and I blew my nose.

He was giving me a chance to get myself together before we had to face everyone else and I was grateful for it.

"Tell me we at least got a glimpse of the guy," I sniffled.

Dante nodded. "He was here."

"Why…?"

"Adrian's security came looking for him. He didn't want to be seen, so he was doubling back to come back around the back way. You didn't have that much time."

I nodded. "Thank you."

He captured my gaze. "I told you… trust me."

I didn't even want to touch that one.

"I'm ready. We can go."

He nodded and we headed out to the van. Lester helped me into the back of the truck and pulled me into a bear hug and never let me go the whole ride back. Ranger kept staring at me in the rearview mirror the whole way back and grabbed my hand and led me upstairs as soon as we parked.

He unlocked the apartment and led me into the bathroom. He leaned me up against the counter as he silently got out some cottonballs and rubbing alcohol.

He turned me around so I was facing the wall mirror over the sink. I looked a mess. He leaned down and started cleaning the scratches down my back out with the alcohol. When he was done, he capped the bottle and put it back under the cupboard.

He stood behind me and leaned down to kiss my shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded.

He led me out to the bedroom and set me down on the bed. He grabbed one of his t-shirts and came back over to me.

He locked eyes with me as his hands snaked out to undo the tie on my shirt. He went slowly so I could stop him at any time. I didn't. I didn't have the energy to. I wanted to get out of these clothes and if he was willing to do it for me, then that was fine.

He quickly got me redressed in his black t-shirt and a pair of my black shorts. He then peeled off his shirt and pants, leaving him in a pair of black boxers. He flipped off the light and climbed into bed with me, throwing an arm across me and scooping me close to him as we fell asleep.

"Ranger?" I mumbled into the pillow.

"Hmm?"

"Your hands are under my shirt."

"I noticed. Your hand is on my ass."

I looked down. Hmm, it was. Wonder how that got there.

I opened my eyes to see him staring at me, lying on his side, his hands creeping up to cover my breasts.

"Guys, when do you want to have a debriefing?" Lester asked, walking into the bedroom.

Ranger and I broke apart and he pulled the blanket up to cover me. Somehow I had lost my clothes and Ranger and I were about two seconds away from repeating history.

"Sorry," Lester stuttered and ran back out.

I sighed and let my head fall back onto the pillow.

"This is happening a lot," I said.

"Yeah," Ranger said slowly, rubbing a hand over his face.

And I felt bad. I was having x-rated dreams about Dante and then hooking up with Ranger. I was such a slut.

I threw an arm over my eyes and groaned. Ranger leaned off the bed and grabbed my shorts, tossing them over to me. I felt around for my top, carefully avoiding hitting anything else under the covers and ending up in worse trouble, and slid it over my head once I found it.

Ranger leaned over and kissed me before shamelessly getting out of bed and walking into the bathroom. I watched him go and wondered why I kept resisting. I must be some kind of an idiot. That had to be it. Any girl would want him tearing their clothes off. I groaned at myself and got up and went to get coffee. I opened the door and saw Lester and Fang staring at me. Lester smiled. "We feeling good this morning?"

I shook my head. "Not really."

"It seemed like you'd had a good morning to me."

Fang shook his head. "Couldn't have been that good."

I put my hands on my hips. "How do _you_ know how good it was?"

He gave me another one of those looks that tells me I said something stupid.

"I sleep about four feet from your door. I'd know if you had a good morning."

I mentally cringed at that. Dante's chair was empty and I looked around.

"Left about a half an hour ago. Wanted to finalize plans with Bobby and his team." Right.

Ranger came out of the bedroom fully dressed, hair still wet from his shower.

"Meeting in an hour." He didn't sound happy.

"Definitely not that good of a morning," Fang said before taking a sip of coffee and downing a powdered donut.

Later that night, I was once again seated next to an Armani style Fang in the silver Jag.

"You nervous?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "Yes. I look like a slut. Marty's wife will kill me with a carving knife over dinner."

Fang barked out a laugh. "I think she's too civil for that. Don't get worried until dessert."

I rolled my eyes and mentally took a deep breath.

Bobby, Manny, and Zero were the waiters for the night. It was just the four of us, so we could easy shut down Marty if needed. Not that we wanted that. Then we wouldn't be able to extract info out of him and that would just be a bummer.

"What do I do if he shows up?" I asked.

Fanged checked his rearview mirror. "Try to get a look at him."

Oh great. Try to get a visual of the killer. Righty-o.

_Trust me. _Whether Ranger liked it or not, I had no option but to trust Dante.


End file.
